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COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



THINGS TO MAKE 



A Book on Hand-work and Service for Girls 

and Boys 



BY 

J. GERTRUDE HUTTON 



NEW YORK 

MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT OF THE 

UNITED STATES AND CANADA 

19 16 



13 1 '54 I 

- H9 



COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY 

MISSIONARY EDUCATION MOVEMENT OF THE 

UNITED STATES AND CANADA 



fr. 



SEP -I 1916 



rf. 



CI.A437487 



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CONTENTS 

Introduction ; 5 

The Importance of the PupiPs Activity 6 

Egg-Shell Farms 15 

Picture Postals and Old Calendars 19 

A Perpetual Calendar 23 

February Fun 26 

The Valentines Bobby and Betty Made 30 

Easter Cards 33 

The Garden Bobby and Betty Made 39 

The Gordon Twins' April First 42 

May Baskets 46 

Bobby Sends Betty a Farmyard 51 

How the Finding Out Club Helped 56 

For Our Friends, the Birds 59 

Gifts from the Country 64 

Fun and Firecrackers 68 

A Summer Christmas-Tree Party 74 

The Summer Christmas Tree 74 

The "Candy Kid" 79 

Paper Dolls 81 



Good-by Gifts to Missionaries 83 

Bobby and Betty Make a Noah's Ark 88 

Hallowe'en Fun 90 

Bobby and Betty Make a "Candy Dandy" 95 

Weaving an Indian Basket 97 

Bobby's and Betty's Santa Claus 101 

Christmas Plans 104 

More Christmas Plans 107 



INTRODUCTION 

Recently much attention has been given to hand-work and 
other forms of activity in religious education, especially in the 
elementary grades. Its value has been proved as a means of 
expressing the pupil's interest or of deepening his impressions. 

Many have realized, however, that hand-work and other 
forms of activity have their greatest value when expressed on 
the higher level of service. To do something for and with 
others involves a higher motive than to do something for one- 
self. The spontaneous impulse of girls and boys to help others 
offers an opportunity to develop in them an attitude of Chris- 
tian sympathy and fellowship and to establish habits of giving 
which includes not only giving money but that larger gift, 
personal service. And so we have come to see that doing 
things and making things for others contains a natural and 
a powerful force in developing a missionary, and therefore a 
broadly Christian, character. 

Probably no one is better qualified to write on such a sub- 
ject than the author of this book. Miss Hutton was for many 
years manual training supervisor of the West Orange, New 
Jersey, schools. She is now Director of Education in the Hill- 
side Presbyterian Church, Orange, New Jersey. Her public 
school experience and her practical knowledge of the problems 
of religious and particularly of missionary education give her 
a unique fitness for writing on this subject. 

Much of this book has appeared serially in Everyland, 
the interdenominational magazine of world friendship for 
girls and boys. The articles have met with such a hearty ap- 
proval from children, parents, and teachers, that they are now 
being issued in this permanent form, thereby making them 
available to a much larger group. 

Susan Mendenhall. 
New York, May 7, 1916. 

5 



THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PUPIL'S ACTIVITY IN 
RELIGIOUS EDUCATION 

A FOREWORD TO PARENTS AND TEACHERS 

"We learn to do by doing" — "No impression without ex- 
pression" — "What we do is far more important than what we 
think" — "What we do not only indicates, it determines, what 
we are" — so often have we heard these and similar expressions, 
that any repetition may seem trite. Yet practise lags so far 
behind precept that there is need to emphasize, again and again, 
the important place which a pupil's activities hold in his edu- 
cation. Parents and instructors not only need help and sug- 
gestions for providing and directing such activities for chil- 
dren ; they need also to understand the principles which should 
guide them in such provision and direction. Only those who 
have such an understanding can intelligently and forcefully 
utilize this means of developing and helping children, and it 
is in the attempt to make clearer these principles that this 
chapter is written. 

Most of the suggestions given in the following pages can be 
carried out successfully by boys and girls working alone, yet 
such work is often more pleasurable and more profitable when 
under adult leadership. Leaders need to know the possibilities 
of hand-work; they should use it for some better reason than 
"They all do it" — "Miss Blank has had great success with 
hand-work." Otherwise hand-work is a tool whose worth is only 
half understood and half utilized. Hand- work is a means to an 
end, not an end in itself. 

To understand the present emphasis on hand- work and the 
value which it may have in missionary education, a look back- 
ward may be helpful. 

6 



THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PUPIl/S ACTIVITY 7 

i 

Before the industrial revolution and the introduction of the 
factory system the family was practically a complete unit, and 
supplied all, or nearly all, its own needs. Its food, clothing, 
tools, and light were all produced by its members, who shared 
a common roof and a common life. Each member, even from 
early childhood, had a part in the production of the things 
needed and used by the family ; this was not merely a nominal 
share, but even small children made a genuine contribution to 
the family welfare, a contribution without which the family 
would have been poorer. This contribution was therefore a 
vital thing to the member making it; it was truly social; it 
taught life; it taught how to live by living ; it developed family 
loyalty and family sentiment. It was of great worth, not only 
to the family as a whole, but to each individual who shared the 
family life. 

With the introduction of the factory system came, first, the 
removal of the father from the family life for many hours of 
each day; later, the older boys left home for hours daily. The 
introduction of the public school system took the children next 
As the products of the factory began to come back into the 
home, home labor was lightened and greatly decreased. The 
girl who had once learned spinning, weaving, butter, cheese, and 
candle making, sewing, cooking, and a dozen other household 
arts, found all these things done much more cheaply and quickly 
outside the home. The boy who once had learned from his 
father carpentry, tool making, harness making, agriculture, 
and kindred things, found an ever-decreasing need for such 
knowledge. One great result of the changed manner of life was 
soon apparent in the boys and girls of unskilled hands. Such 
a loss of manual skill, with its attendant loss of mental devel- 
opment, was quite serious enough to demand a remedy. But a 
far more serious loss was found in the lack of family senti- 



8 THINGS TO MAKE 



ment, of family loyalty, and of the social value that comes from 
working together at a common task for the common good. 

The leaders of secular education were not slow to recognize 
the demand for something which should replace the training 
once obtained as a matter of course in the home, and courses in 
manual training soon found their place in the curricula of the 
public schools. In so far as this work has increased the manual 
skill of the pupils and ministered to fuller mental development, 
it has done well. When it has gone further and brought its 
pupils to see in what manner each may become a real pro- 
ducer, of real value to society, a sharer in the common labor 
of the world, for a common good, it has done better. It is this 
latter value which religious leaders must see and emphasize in 
directing the activities of children so as to produce the finest 
growth and development of character. 

There is need on the part of some of us who act as leaders, 
for a revision of our own missionary thinking, before we under- 
take to guide others. We must realize that missionary work is 
not a matter of geographical situation ; it is rather an attitude 
toward all living. It is quite possible for our pupils to con- 
tribute generously to work on the other side of the globe, in a 
Sunday morning session, and in school next day treat unkindly 
a schoolmate of foreign birth. It is of little avail to teach our 
boys to send money to the needy in China, when we do not 
teach them to treat with Christian courtesy the Chinese laun- 
dryman around the corner. It is of little value to teach our 
girls to send money for Belgian relief, or to a city mission, 
when they withdraw dainty skirts from contact with a "com- 
ing American" who may occupy the seat next to them in Sun- 
day-school. 

We talk much to-day about "the brotherhood of man and 
the fatherhood of God," but too often our missionary work has 



THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PUPIl/S ACTIVITY 9 

been touched if not imbued with the spirit of patronage; too 
seldom with the free brotherly spirit of sharing all our good 
things, our advantages, and our fun, with those whose oppor- 
tunities are not quite as full as ours. When our boys and girls 
come to look upon their possessions and advantages as privi- 
leges to be shared; when they see in the Fourth of July, 
Hallowe'en, Valentine's day, May-day, and all the other holi- 
days, even to April Fool's day, an opportunity not only for 
their own fun and pleasure but a chance for sharing this fun 
with others, they have at least been started on the way to being 
real brothers to all the world. Nor does this imply that their 
own healthy fun is to be one whit diminished, or that they are 
to become priggish or sanctimonious. Far from it; what is 
sought is only a spirit of "fair play" which they will be as 
quick to realize as "the other fellow." The boy or girl, or the 
group of boys or girls who sends to a departing missionary, 
whom they may or may not know personally, a farewell gift, 
however simple, or the club that sends to some mission group 
a box of gifts made especially for them, will feel a sense of 
personal interest and possession in the recipients that can be 
secured in no other way. 

The children who play the games of other countries, as, for 
example, some of the pretty Chinese games for girls, or the 
more strenuous ones for boys, enter to some degree into the 
spirit of the little foreign brothers and sisters, and are likely 
to look upon them with increased respect and brotherliness. 
The pupil who weaves an Indian basket is almost sure never 
again to think an Indian squaw lazy or lacking in cleverness. 
And if it be asked, "What place does care for the birds have 
in missionary training?" let it be remembered first, that the 
Savior said of the sparrows that "not one of them shall fall on 
the ground without your Father." When a distinguished 



10 THINGS TO MAKE 



writer on the Jewish prophets interprets the passage in Isaiah 
11:6-9 to mean that along with the redemption of human so- 
ciety shall come a redemption of all nature as well, and the 
brute creation shall enjoy greater peace and happiness, surely 
we may well feel that the boy or girl taught to care for the 
birds is taking one step in the right direction toward brotherly 
and kindly living. 

If it should be objected that most of the gifts suggested 
have little intrinsic value, the writer would first reply by con- 
fessing to a very great sympathy for those boys and girls whose 
gifts must of necessity be, I shall not say poorer, but different, 
from those of young people whose purses may chance to be 
fuller. A conscious effort has been made to suggest some 
service which any boy or girl can render, even if money may not 
be plentiful. It is a very easy matter to make the gift more 
costly, if desired: it. is not always so easy to supply the lack 
through thought and ingenuity, but success only adds to the 
pleasure of conquering. 

There is yet another reason for suggesting simple gifts for 
children. Few children earn much money, and there is per- 
haps a danger that money given to a child will be lightly and 
carelessly given by him, without his appreciation of its worth, 
and without real training in sharing and service. But if a 
child really puts himself into his gift by discovering a need to 
be met, by planning how to meet it, by overcoming difficulties 
in the way, he not only conquers the obstacles and himself, but 
he gives himself with his gift, and is ever thereafter bound in 
a new way to the recipient. 

In the third place, the poorest way of measuring the value 
of a gift is by its monetary worth. Nor is the actual money 
cost to the giver always a fair test. A better one is the value 
or use of the gift to the recipient. Many, in fact practically 



THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PUPIl/S ACTIVITY 11 

all of the gifts suggested here have been given the test of use 
by the author. Some, like the desk pad, portfolio, copper arti- 
cles, and others, have been used for months and even years, 
and found practical and useful. Others have been approved by 
workers on the field. As an illustration the story should be 
told of a club of very little girls who put together the pennies 
they had saved from their candy money; they bought cheese- 
cloth, and, cutting it into 12-inch squares, hemmed them neatly. 
These with their choicest picture post-cards, covered on one 
side with white paper, they mailed to the church missionary 
in China. This busy man found time to write the club presi- 
dent a letter, and a proud little lady she was as she displayed 
to every one "the letter that came all the way from China!" 
This became one of the club treasures, and read, in part, as 
follows : 

"Whoever planned that package had a good knowledge of 
what is needed in China. You can hardly imagine how much 
easier our approach to children is if we have a pretty card to 
offer them. And as for those handkerchiefs, they will be car- 
ried up some Chinese sleeve till they change color, and smell, 
and aspect, but they will still be cherished." When, later, that 
missionary came home on furlough and journeyed a quarter 
of the way across the continent to visit this church, he had no 
need to establish a bond between himself and the children; he 
could only knit it more firmly. 

Illustrations might be multiplied, if need were, but enough 
has been given to show how the plans may be used and what 
results to expect. The book is in no way theoretical, but is the 
outgrowth of experience. 

It has been found that, while simple things like the Santa 
Claus (page 103) and others, can easily be made by the small 
children for whom they were originally planned, if a little help 



12 THINGS TO MAKE 



is given, even boys and girls much older like to make them 
once in a while. So many things are included in the daily pro- 
gram of our growing boys and girls to-day, that it sometimes 
gives them a feeling of pleasure and relief to find some simple 
gift which can be not only completed but perfectly done in a 
short time, perhaps an hour. Fourteen-year-old boys have made 
with much zest the Santa to send to little crippled children in 
a hospital, and the same is true of the Easter cards and the 
patriotic badges. 

The plans outlined in the following pages are not supposed 
to exhaust the possibilities of hand-work by any means. Rather 
they are suggestive ; they have been found practical in ordinary 
schools and clubs, and can be modified in endless ways to meet 
local conditions. In undertaking such work a leader unused to 
hand-work need not be deterred because it seems difficult. With 
the possible exception of the larger bird-houses, there is noth- 
ing given that any boy or girl of twelve or fourteen could not 
carry to a successful completion. It is suggested that each 
leader work out the article before trying to have it made in a 
club or class session, as this makes one acquainted with all the 
difficulties, and gives a feeling of surety that is worth while. 

In directing such work the wise leader will put little em- 
phasis on the differences and much on the likenesses between 
the pupils of her own band and those for whom the work is 
done ; she will say little about giving and much about sharing; 
she will find endless occasions in Sunday-school, day-school, 
social, and home life, for leading her pupils to "divide" with 
those who have less than they have. She will make the brother- 
ly spirit as natural as the common air, and missionary effort a 
part of every-day life, a normal response to the need of others. 
So shall come the dawning of that day for which the restless 
millions wait. 



THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PUPIl/S ACTIVITY 13: 

»■ 

MONTH BY MONTH 

A Year's Cycle of Hand-work and Service 

While most of the gifts suggested in this book can be made 
and used at any time during the year, the leader of a group 
who so desires may arrange a monthly program of work that 
will have a seasonal interest, and find for each month some- 
thing to do or make that will be appropriate to that month. 
Two suggested programs for a year are here given. The first is. 
for young children, perhaps nine years old and younger; the 
second one for older girls and boys. 

I. For Younger Girls and Boys 

January — Picture Postals and Old Calendars. Select the num- 
ber game, the quotations, and the reward cards. 

February — The Valentines Bobby and Betty Made; February 
Fun. Select the badges and hatchets. 

March — Easter Cards. 

April — The Garden Bobby and Betty Made. 

May — May Baskets. Select the simpler ones. 

June — Bobby Sends Betty a Farmyard. 

July and August — Gifts from the Country. 

September — Paper Dolls. 

October — Bobby and Betty Make a Noah's Ark. 

November — The Candy Dandy. 

December — Bobby's and Betty's Santa Claus. 

II. For Older Girls and Boys 
January — A Perpetual Calendar. 

February — February Fun. Select the composition covers and 
the more difficult things not suggested for the younger- 
pupils. 

March — Easter Cards. 

April — The Gordon Twins' April First. 

May — May Baskets. 



14 THINGS TO MAKE 



June — How the Finding Out Club Helped. 

July — Fun and Firecrackers. 

August — A Summer Christmas-Tree Party. The Summer 

Christmas Tree. 
September — Good-by Gifts to Missionaries. 
October — Hallowe'en Fun. 
November and December — Christmas Plans. More Christmas 

Plans. 



EGG-SHELL FARMS 

The curtains swayed softly in the spring breeze; the sweet 
smell of apple blossoms and growing green things came in at 
the open window; a flash of brilliant blue in the cherry-tree 
told where the first bluebird was resting himself for a moment ; 
the children's voices floated up from the garden, where they 
were busy with hoe and trowel and packets of seeds. 

Rob turned his white face a little deeper into the pillow, 
and when he was sure the nurse had left the room, he 
allowed two big tears to roll down his cheeks. It was hard to 
lie in bed when everything outdoor called so loudly to him. 
And he had planned such a wonderful garden this time! But 
Nellie's tiny kitten had climbed so far up the big tree only the 
day before that it had been afraid to come back. Rob had gone 
to the rescue, and an unsound limb of the tree had broken 
beneath his weight, and he had fallen crashing to the ground. 

"A bad fall," said the doctor. "He'll have to pass a good 
many days in bed." 

Rob was not sorry he had done his best to save the kitten, 
but he could not help regretting the garden and all the things 
he had promised himself to find out about growing plants. 

Down in the garden the other children hushed their voices 
as they saw the white-capped nurse pass the window, and 
remembered why she was there. Nellie, watching the window 
with wistful face, said what was in all their minds : 

"I wish we could do something to help Rob. I wish we 
could take the garden to him. 

John, the gardener, looked up quickly. 

"I've a splendid idea," he exclaimed. "Fred, you get your 
coping saw and some empty cigar boxes. Nellie, will you get 
a hammer and some small nails? And Ruth, please get a com- 
pass, and ask the cook to give you all the egg-shells she has ; she 

15 * 



16 THINGS TO MAKE 



is making cake and custard to-day and there ought to be a 
jolly lot of them. All of you bring the things back here, and 
I'll tell you the greatest plan that ever was," and they hurried 
off. 

In ten minutes all the children were back with the things 
John had asked them to get, and were eagerly listening while 
he explained his idea. 

"We will make an egg-shell farm ; yes, two or three of them, 
for Rob, and he can watch things grow while he has to stay in 
bed." 

"What do you mean by an egg-shell farm?" asked Fred, 
greatly puzzled. 

"I'll show you," laughed 
John. "Where is your cigar 
box? Take off the cover care- 
fully, so you do not break it, 
and with Alice's compass, mark 
Off six circles, just a little 
smaller than your egg-shells, 
like this: 



ooo 
ooo 



"Now with your coping saw, cut out the circles, but be very 
careful not to break the wood. You girls may break the edges 
of the shells as evenly as you can, and fill them with fine rich 
earth." 

When Fred had finished cutting out the circles from his 
cigar-box cover, John showed him how to smooth them nicely 
with a sharp knife, and then nail the cover securely to the 
box. With a little burnt umber mixed with turpentine, he 
stained the whole a dark brown and gave it all a thin coat of 
varnish. 

By this time the girls had filled with fine rich earth the 
shells now ready to be placed in the holders the boys had 
made. The finished "farm" looked so well and had been so 



EGG-SHELL FARMS 17 



easy to make that the children decided to make three others at 
once, "so that Rob may have plenty." 

"Shall we plant the seeds, or leave it for him to do?" asked 
Nellie. 

John thought a moment. 

"Let's plant one; then it will be a surprise, and he will 
have a good many guesses as to what the plants will be. For 
the others, we will send the seeds for him to put in himself." 

The children agreed, and then came the discussion as to 
what should go into the farm they planted. 

"Grass seed in one shell; it makes such a pretty show of 
green," said Nellie. 

"And beans in another ; they look so queer, when they come 
up with the little caps on their heads." 

"Yes, and so do tomato-plants, with the first little leaves 
all folded up in the seed." 

"And the long shoot of the corn will be pretty in another 
when it comes up." 

"And some clover-seed in the next, because the little leaves 
are so pretty in shape." 

"And this last one is so deep, I think a crocus bulb will 
grow and bloom in it." 

The next morning, when Rob turned to look at the win- 
dow, there stood his "farms." The nurse explained what they 
were, and you can guess how eagerly he watched for the first 
little green shoot to show. Can you imagine how glad he 
was when he saw the little plants pushing their way out of 
the earth? The doctor grew more smiling from day to day, 
and said the "farms" had done the boy more good than all his 
medicine. Certainly they helped to pass many an otherwise 
long hour. There came a day at last when Rob was able to be 
dressed and go down to the gardens the others had tended all 
summer in the outdoors. 



18 



THINGS TO MAKE 



"Yes, they are fine," he said, "but I liked mine, too. What 
shall I do with them, mother, when we go away next week?" 

"What would you like to do with them, son?" asked mother, 
looking into the earnest eyes of her boy. Rob hesitated a 
minute. 

"If the others do not care about my giving them away, I 
would like to take one to lame Jimmy, the cobbler's little boy; 
and another to the little old lady who keeps the paper store — 
she has so little that is pretty to look at; and I am sure that 
kind Italian at the street crossing would like another to make 
his tiny shelter brighter. And then mayn't I send the other 
to the washerwoman's little girl? She is all alone when her 
mother's away." 

Did these people of whom Rob thought, care for his egg- 
shell farms? Just try it yourself, and send one to any tired or 
sick person, or to one who is shut in from the outdoor life, or 
who cannot find any pretty or pleasant thing to look at, and 
you will soon know for yourself ! 






PICTUEE POSTALS AND OLD CALENDARS 

It was the first Saturday of the new year, and Madge was 
sorting a great pile of old picture postals. 

"I do hate to throw these cards away," she said. "They are 
so pretty." 

"I don't care about old postals," said Beth, "but I always 
hate to throw away calendars," and she laid on the table a 
number which had just been replaced by the new ones. 

"Old calendars and old postals!" scoffed Ben, from the 
window. "What earthly good are they?" 

"What good?" cried Aunt Alice, coming in just in time to 
answer. "Why, just the thing! They are the work-boxes for 
my sewing class girls, the reward cards for my Sunday-school 
class, the sunshine for my shut-in old ladies, and the number 
work for our primary children. Neither our day-school nor our 
Sunday-school back in the mountains in Kentucky has all the 
splendid things to work with that your school here in the city 
has." 

"Oh, auntie, do tell us. We would love to help you if we 
knew how to begin," begged the young people. 

"I knew you would, my dears," replied Aunt Alice. "We 
will first sort the post-cards, only those that are fresh and 
have a nice picture will we wish to send away. And little 
Alice may begin by covering the very prettiest of them with 
white paper, on the written side; then paste on one of these 
Bible verses from this last year's calendar. I will think of my 
little namesake every time I give one away," and Aunt Alice 
emphasized her words with a warm hug. 

"But the number work, Aunt Alice?" asked Ben, as little 
Alice settled happily to her work. 

"That will be your task, my boy. Mount these large num- 
erals on cards, leaving spaces between, to add the signs; you 

19 



20 



THINGS TO MAKE 



can make all the multiplication tables, if you like; they will 
be splendid for drill work. 

"Oh, there is a fine game with numbers, too," cried Ben, as 
his interest kindled. "I saw the children playing with it in 
Miss Allen's room the other day. See, it's like this," and he 
swiftly cut a number of cards to fit a small pasteboard box he 
had. Then he mounted a number of numerals like this : 




"You see," he explained, "the cards all just fit in this box, 
but as each is cut differently, only the correct answer will 
drop into place, and you can't help learning while you play it." 

"Great!" agreed Aunt Alice. "The boys and girls will 
love it." 

"I'll make you a lot of them," promised Ben. 

"Why couldn't these quotations from the great authors be 
mounted on cards to make a game?" asked Beth. "Each player 
to draw a card, read the quotation, and the one who first names 
the author to claim the card?" 

"Like Authors," said Ben. 

"Splendid!" said Aunt Alice. "So few of our pupils have 
any books in their homes, and this will help them." 



PICTURE POSTALS AND OLD CALENDARS 



21 



"But the work-boxes, Aunt Alice?" reminded Madge. "How 

are you going to turn these 
into work-boxes?" 

"Oh, you will think that 
is the best of all," declared 
Aunt Alice. "Select fourteen 
of your cards all of one kind ; 
that is, all birthday, or 
Christmas, or New-year's 
cards. It will be prettier, 
too, if they are much alike in 
color." 

As she talked, she thread- 
ed a fine darning-needle with 
a piece of red mercerized cot- 
ton. 

"Now hold these two 
cards with the address sides 
together, and with this thread 
buttonhole all around them, 
taking your stitches a quarter 
of an inch apart and a 
quarter of an inch deep," she 
directed. "You need three 
pairs like that." 

"And what next?" asked 
Madge when this was done, 
these two 
the chil- 
dren's pictures," said Aunt Alice as she selected four cards that 
were meant to stand on the short end. 

"First, measure up from the bottom on each side a dis- 
tance equal to the width of your cards, and mark. From each 




"We will use 
pairs, now, with 



22 THINGS TO MAKE 



mark to the middle of the top draw a straight line, and cut 
off on that line. You see it does not hurt the picture, but only 
makes it pointed. Now buttonhole around in the same way." 
This done, Aunt Alice directed Madge to fasten the first 
three pairs together on the long edges, by a few stitches through 
the buttonholing, and then the short ends of the pointed cards 
were fastened to the short ends of the middle cards in the 
same way. ( See Fig. I, d, d, and d, d. ) 

"Oh, it's going to be a house, a cunning little house," ex- 
claimed Madge, as she turned the "gables" into position. 

"Yes," said Aunt Alice, smiling. "The corners," (a, a; b, 
b; c, c; f, f) "should be caught together, but as they will pack 
so much easier flat, you may leave a long thread to each corner, 
and my class will sew them up." 

"Now the 'roof !" cried Madge. 

"For that, you will need to cut your cards narrow. Each 
half of the cover should be just a little wider than the slant 
of your gable. Cut off the edge of the card which does not 
hurt the picture. Buttonhole them, fasten them together, and 
then fasten one edge to the top of one of your side cards, and 
your work is done." 

"Aren't they the dearest things?" exclaimed Madge. "I'll 
never throw old postals away again." 

"Nor calendars, either!" cried Beth. 

"Let's have a party of all our friends, and ask them to 
bring their post-cards and last year calendars," said Ben. 
"We'll do it!" agreed the girls. 
And they did! 
Fun? 
Try it and see. 



A PERPETUAL CALENDAR 



A perpetual calendar is a very convenient thing to have on 
one's desk, and a fine gift to make for father, mother, or a 
friend. I am sure many a missionary, too, would like one, 
especially those who are so far away that the new calendars 
do not reach them easily and promptly. 

Any boy or girl can make these calendars with little trouble 
by following directions. 

First, decide on the size of month card you are going to 
use. For illustration, let us say that you are going to use the 
calendar in the 1916 Everyland. The month space is 3% x 
2% inches. Select the calendar for seven months, taking one 
month whose 1st is Sunday, one whose 1st is Monday, one 
whose 1st is Tuesday, and so on, till you have a card with each 
of the days of the week as the first of the month. Cut off the 
name of the month, and on three plain white papers, each 
2y 2 x Sy 2 inches, paste the names of the months, putting half 

of them on one side, and 
half on the other; half 
right side up, and half 
bottom side up; like 
the illustration. 

Next, secure a small 
oblong picture-frame ; 
the size should be 5 x 6%, it may be a little larger. You may 
make the frame from molding which you can buy at any pic- 
ture store, or you may buy it already made for a few cents. 
Remove the back, and cover the cardboard that is next to the 
glass with whatever material you like best. Mine is a lovely 
blue, narrow-striped, moire wall-paper. If you like silk or 
some other fabric, you may use that. Near the bottom of this 

2 l A 



JANUARY 



AWAM3J 



MARCH 



anidv 



One card. 



Its irvwse 



24 



THINGS TO MAKE 



cardboard, cut a space 2y 2 x 3 inches; this should be done 
before the covering is pasted in place, so that you can bring 
the edges of the covering through the opening and paste on the 
back, to give a neat finish. For the upper part of the card, 
select your favorite picture and paste in place. You can 
buy for a cent a reproduction of the finest paintings, or you 
may wish to use a photograph, a part of a postal, a snapshot, 
or even a magazine print. Over the opening on the back of 
the card paste a small paper pocket (see Fig. 1) ; this is to 
contain the month cards, and back of these go the month 
names. The month cards, being shorter, allow the month name 
to show above them. Fasten the card in place in the frame by 
small brads; the month and month-name cards, of course, are 
left loose in the pocket, to permit ready changing. 



i 




Use two pieces of heavy cardboard for the back which 
joined together will exactly cover the back of the frame. Hinge 
it at the top, as in Figure 2, by pasting a strip of cloth over the 
seam, and cover both pieces neatly with paper or thin cloth. 
Fasten this with small brads to the frame at the top, c, c ; and 
make two little holders out of a bit of tin cut from a biscuit 
box by pattern B ; these are to be fastened to the frame at the 



A PERPETUAL CALENDAR 



25 



back near the bottom, by a single small brad or tack, after 
you have bent the holders over at the dotted line. ( See Fig. 2. ) 



Figure 2. 



mmmmammmmwmmm^ m 





They will swing around over the edge of the hinged cardboard 
back, and hold it in place after the date cards are put in. A 
support made of cardboard, like D, may be fastened to the 
back to keep the calendar upright on the desk. 




FEBRUARY FUN 

"I think February is just the best month in the year," cried 
Nellie, as she cut a red heart to put on her valentine. "I love 
valentines." 

"Oh, valentines are good enough," said John, a little loftily, 
"but best of all are the flags and the shields and the hatchets 
and the things that go with Washington and Lincoln." 

"I like those, too," said Betty. "I'd like to make dozens 
of valentines; they are so pretty and so easy." 

"Why, children," exclaimed Aunt Helen, "I could use 
'dozens' in teaching my little Hungarian and Polish and Italian 
pupils. They are so eager to be 'real Americans,' and they 
would love a pretty badge like this," and she held up a gay 
little cockade of red, white, and blue paper. (See Fig. A.) 

"Oh, these are as easy as anything to make," cried Nellie. 
"See, you just cut a circle of each color and then slit them 
from the edge to the center, and slip them one over the other, 
so that a third of each shows, and then paste the little hanging 
strips to the bottom." (See Pattern Aa.) 

"We will soon have all of those you wish, Aunt Helen," 
said John, falling to work. "And wouldn't you like some 
hatchets, too?" 

"Yes, indeed I would," replied Aunt Helen. "I can give 
one to each member of my class when I tell the story of 
Washington's life." 

"John cuts hatchets so easily," sighed Nellie as she 
watched him cutting one after another from red, white, or blue 
paper. (See Pattern B.) "I can't do it so well, but I know 
how to make a cunning hatchet from the little pieces that are 
left over," she added, brightening, and in a minute she pasted 
on a card some red and white strips for the blade, a blue shield 

26 



FEBRUARY FUN 



27 



for the head, and gave it a red handle. (See Pattern C.) 

"Oh, that is fine!" exclaimed Aunt Helen. "But what is 
this?" she asked, taking up a small white shield which bore 
a picture of Washington. 




"The picture I cut from a canceled postage-stamp," said 
John. "You see the ink had not touched the face at all. I 
made the pattern for the shield part by doubling a piece of 
paper and trying till I got a good shape; then I unfolded it 
and traced around it." (See Pattern D.) 



28 THINGS TO MAKE 



"And they are to be worn as little badges, I see/' said Aunt 
Helen. "I shall keep them as rewards for neatness. The white 
shield is so clean and pure, the children will surely try to have 
clean hands and clothes so they will not soil it." 

"Shall we make some covers for compositions?" asked John. 
"The flag makes such a nice cover for the ones on Washington 
and Lincoln. If we make each stripe a half inch wide, the 
thirteen stripes give a cover of just about the right width for 
composition paper. 

"Splendid," agreed Aunt Helen. "But can you put the 
stars in the blue field?" 

"Not all the 48," laughed John. "They would be too small 
and would be crowded. But I will draw as many as will look 
well in my space." 

"I am going to use these Dennison gummed silver stars," 
said Nellie. "They are much easier, and look very pretty." 

"How proud my boys and girls will be when they stand up 
before the school to read their stories of Washington," said 
Aunt Helen. 

"Do the mothers come to hear the stories read, and do they 
bring their little babies with them?" queried John. 

"Oh, yes," answered Aunt Helen. "And sometimes the 
babies get very tired, too, before our exercises are over." 

"I know what the babies must have," cried Nellie. "It 
will be just the thing for them." 

"What is that?" asked Aunt Helen. 

"I call them 'flutterers'," said Nellie. "See, I fold three 
strips of red, white, and blue paper around a stick, like this. 
(See Fig. 1.) A little paste holds it firmly; then I fold it 
back and forth in narrow, close folds to crease it well. (Fig. 
■2.) Last of all, I cut it in fine ribbons (dotted lines in Fig. 1), 
and put silver stars on the field. I have seen babies playing 



FEBRUARY FUN 29f J 



with them, and the more they wave them the prettier they 
look." 

"Where did you get such a pretty idea?" asked Aunt Helen. 

"Oh," returned Nellie, "Miss Allen made them of pink and 
white paper last year, and every baby on the Cradle Roll had 
one for the Sunday-school parade. They did love them so that 
I thought your little tots would like them too, and these fit a 
patriotic 'color scheme' better than pink and white." 

"Come and see the things John and Nellie have been mak- 
ing to give my schoolroom a festive and patriotic air," cried 
Aunt Helen to Ned Grant and Alex Hart, who were ushered 
in at this moment. The boys examined the work which John 
and Nellie offered for their inspection with no small interest. 

"Wish we could have the fun of helping some school like 
this," said Alex, who was Ned's guest, and was soon to return 
to his distant home. "But I don't know where we could use 
it. There isn't a little foreigner in our town." 

"But yon could send them somewhere," said Nellie. 

"Aunt Helen," said John, "didn't Miss Wood say, when 
she was here last winter, that some of her pupils live so far 
back among the hills that they had never seen an American 
flag until they came to her school?" 

"Had never seen an American flag!" exclaimed Ned and 
Alex together. 

"It is true," said Aunt Helen. "Can't you see how she 
would love to get a boxful of these pretty things?" 

"She shall have that box," declared Alex. "What is her 
address?" 

"I do not have it here," replied Aunt Helen, "but if you 
want to share the fun of sending a package to a mountain 
school, ask your minister or write to Everyland (see address 
in back of this book) for the address of a school where they 
will be glad to use your gifts." 



THE VALENTINES BOBBY AND BETTY MADE 

"Mother," said Bobby, "we went with Aunt May to take 
some oranges to her paper boy in the hospital; and the nurse 
took us to the children's room. 

"And, oh, mother, what do you think they were playing 
with?" cried Bobby. 

"I cannot guess," said mother. 

"Our Santas that we made at Christmas," said Bobby. 

"They did love them so much, mother," said Bobby. "I 
wish we could make something else just as nice." 

"Shall I show you how to make some valentines?" asked 
mother. 

Betty ran for scissors, and Bobby brought the paste, and 
mother took out sheets of paper and a box of red hearts. 

First, she told Bobby and Betty to cut Pattern C from 
gray paper. 

"Cut it on the dotted lines too," she said. "Now cut Pat- 
tern D from red paper, and paste it on the back of C, so that 
it shows above it at the top. Then you may write your greeting 
on it." 

So Bobby and Betty carefully printed between the two cuts, 
"I send my love to you," and mother gave them the red 
hearts. 

"Now," she said, "we will cut a long strip of paper, just 
wide enough to go through the slits in the box. Cut a slit 
in each end of the strip, put this pretty red ribbon through, and 
fasten the ends by pasting a big red heart on them. Now put 
the strip over your greeting, through the cuts, and you can 
pull it up or down, as you wish." (See illustration.) 

"Let's make another," coaxed Bobby. "It's such fun." 

30 



THE VALENTINES BOBBY AND BETTY MADE 



31 



So mother gave them Pattern A and told them to cut it 
from red paper, and fold on the dotted lines. 

"It makes a little heart," cried Bobby, folding it. 

"Yes," said mother. "Would you like to paste some of the 
lace paper from your candy box in the center, and put on it 
a tiny Cupid? Then you can cut a wee white arrow, paste it 
to one side and put it through a slit in the other side." 




U.S. 
MAIL 

I send 
my Love 
to You 



<2P 




Pattern C 



"How cunning," cried Betty. "Do we paste it on a card?" 
"Yes, on these white cards. Suppose you shut it behind a 

gate," suggested mother, and she showed them how to fold a 

paper and cut Pattern B. 

"Paste one side of the gate to the card," said Mother, "and 

fasten the other side with two hearts, one partly over the 



32 



THINGS TO MAKE 



other. Then you may print: 

'Open the gate as high as the sky 
To let my valentine pass by.' " 




A juuifuirui 



if innnnjiTLf 

PatternB PattmiB unfolded 



"Aren't they the prettiest valentines you ever saw, mother? 
And how the children will love them !" 





Open the ^ate/ 
as hi£h as the sky 

To let my Valentine 
pass by 



EASTEK CARDS 

"Dear, dear!" cried Auntie, coming into the cosy sitting- 
room, with sparkling eyes and cheeks like pink roses, "what 
gloomy little faces ! What has happened to bring such clouds?" 

She stooped to kiss Frank and Alice as she spoke. 

"Oh, Auntie!" they both began at once, "we went down 
to Ben's"— 

— "and he has dozens of little new chickens" — 

— "and six white rabbits" — 

— "and the hospital children would just love them" — 

— "but mother says we can't send them" — 

— " 'cause they'd just die" — 
And then it really looked for a moment as if some of the 
outdoor rain had found its way inside the house. But Auntie 
spoke quickly. 

"Just a minute, just a minute, dears!" she begged. "Don't 
both talk at once. Chickens and rabbits for your Easter greet- 
ings to the hospital children?" Then very thoughtfully, she 
said again, "Chickens and rabbits." Her eyes began to dance, 
and she said once more: 

"Chickens and rabbits. Did you know there are dozens 
of them in my room, just waiting to be let out?" 

"Oh, Auntie, Auntie!" cried Alice, dancing up and down, 
"show them to us; please do! Will you?" 

"Will I?" teased Auntie. "I wonder if I will?" 

Both children knew what that meant, and ran ahead to 
open the door and to help with Auntie's coat and hat. They 
sat very still while she hung her wraps in the closet. Alice's 
eyes were searching every corner for a furry bunny, and her 

33 



34 THINGS TO MAKE 



sharp ears were listening for a shrill "peep, peep." But Frank 
had seen that funny look in his aunt's eyes before, and he was 
pretty sure that there was a joke behind her words. Auntie 
dearly loved to joke, but her jokes always meant such good 
times that he was willing to wait for her to explain. Besides, 
he was a whole year older than Alice, and it would never do 
for him to show how eager he felt. When Auntie began to 
unfold the small sewing table at which they had made many 
a fascinating thing before, he sprang quickly to help her, and 
to get the low, comfortable chairs they always used when they 
worked or played in Auntie's room. 

In another moment Auntie had brought out a box of colored 
crayons, paste, scissors, and paper. Both children watched 
every movement she made. She sat down between them, and 
taking up a sheet of white paper and a pair of scissors, she 
looked first at Frank then at Alice. Both children held their 
breath. Then Auntie said in a funny high voice, 

"Peep, peep! Please let me out." 

"Indeed, I will be glad to do so," said 
Auntie in her own voice, and then with her 
scissors she cut from the paper, a funny, fat 
little chicken, just like this: 

She placed a black dot for an eye, a touch 
of orange on the bill and legs, and a soft yel- 
low all over the body, and when she turned 
the little flap A to make it stand, there was a chicken as large 
as life, and almost as real. 

"Oh, oh, the darling thing !" cried Alice. "Let me make one, 
please let me!" 

Auntie laughed and passed the chicken and a fresh sheet 
of paper to her little niece. Frank did not say a word, but his 




EASTER CARDS 



35 



eyes were as bright as Auntie's as he 
took a sheet, too, and began to cut. As 
he was so much older, he did not need to 
trace, but could cut directly from the 
paper almost as well as Auntie herself. 
Soon there was a whole row of chickens 
marching down both sides of the table. 
Some were big and some were little; 
some were black and some were yellow, 
and some were both black and yellow. 

"It seems to me," said Auntie, after 
a little, "that you ought to put those 
chickens in coops." 

"How could we?" demanded Alice. 

"Just this way," answered Auntie 
promptly, and she cut a strip of paper 
like this: 

Then she folded it at the dotted lines, 
cut little slits at x, x, and putting a tiny 
bit of paste on the under side of the flap 
on which a chicken stood, she fastened it 
to B; then the flap of the coop, D, was 
pasted to C. After that, Auntie cut some 
very narrow strips of paper to put in the 
slits, x, across the back and front of the 
coop, to keep the chicken in. Frank and 
Alice began to make coops as fast as ever 
they could, and then they wrote little 
cards, "To bring you Easter greetings," 
and fastened them to the coops. 

As they leaned back in their chairs and looked at 
work with much satisfaction, a sudden thought struck 

"Where are the rabbits?" she asked. 




their 
Alice. 



36 



THINGS TO MAKE 





"We will do those next," answered Auntie, 
and folding a piece of paper, she cut a bunny 
like this: 

She was careful to place the part of the bun- 
ny from m to m on the fold of the paper; that 
made a double bunny, and when it was unfolded 
ever so little, the straight part, ~b, made it stand. 
Frank and Alice were delighted with the 
bunnies and cut a great many. After a little, 
they found they could cut them with a carrot 
or a leaf in their mouths. 
Presently mother came in to see their work. 
"Don't you think the little sick children will love them, 
mother?" asked Alice, holding up her bunnies. 

"The chickens will make them think of spring, won't they?" 
asked Frank. 

"I am sure of it," said mother, "but why don't you make 
some little bluebird cards for the tiny tots who are too tired 
and sick to do more than hold up a small card? Bluebirds are 
among the early spring birds, you know, and besides, they 
mean happiness. I think they would be beautiful for Easter 
cards." 

Both children turned to Auntie, who said at once : 



EASTER CARDS 



37 



"Of course; the very thing.! How will this do?" and in a 
twinkling, she had cut out three or four bluebirds. When the 
children had colored them, she showed them how to paste them 
across a card, putting the smaller ones in the background to 
make them look as if they were flying. The way they looked 
when finished you will see in the picture. 




"I am going to make ever so many of those to send to people 
this Easter," said Frank. "They are so much nicer than the 
cards you buy." 

"I think so, too," replied Auntie. "But here comes father. 
What do you suppose he will think of your new Easter cards?" 

"Chickens, rabbits, bluebirds," said father. "All signs of 
spring, indeed. But where is your frog? I was never quite 
sure when I was a youngster, that spring had come to stay 
till I saw the first frog." 

"A frog!" said Frank. "I don't believe we could make a 
frog, at least not one that could swim, and I don't think a 
frog that can't swim would be much good, do you?" 

"Not much good," said Auntie, smiling. "But I am not so 
sure that we cannot make one that will swim ; let us try." 

So she found some heavy green paper, and after trying two 
or three times, she cut a figure like this: 




Then she made some marks on the back with dark green 



38 THINGS TO MAKE 



crayon, creased the joints of the legs and put wax on the under 
side, passing an iron over it that was just warm enough to 
melt the wax, so that water would not readily soak the paper. 
Then very carefully she dropped it in a bowl of water. 

Frank and Alice were wild with delight. Suddenly father, 
with a twinkle in his eye, lifted the frog out. 

"I will make him a magic frog," he said. He made a quick 
pass or two over the frog, and put it back on the water. 

"Now he will swim wherever I tell him. This way, Mr. 
Frog," and father showed the way he wished the frog to go 
by pointing with something that looked like a match. Will 
you believe it? That frog followed the little stick as if he 
could not help himself. Father laughed at the puzzled look 
on the children's faces, and then hurried off to answer the 
telephone. When he had gone, Frank looked sharply at the 
"match" he had laid down on the table. 

"That isn't a match," he said. "That is the little magnet 
Bobbie has to guide his swimming toys. Hurrah, I've found 
father's trick," as he looked closely at the frog's head. "Father 
put a needle in his head, and of course the frog had to follow 
the magnet. Let's make them all magic frogs, Alice." 

And if you wish to know how the sick children in the hos- 
pital and in the Home for Crippled Children, to whom Frank 
and Alice sent their cards, liked them, well, I really believe 
the only way you can ever quite understand all about it is 
just to make some yourself, and take them to a children's 
hospital or home in your own city, or give some to a little 
shut-in child in your own town or village. I am very sure 
there are not the right words in my dictionary to tell you all 
about it, and I just advise you to find out for yourself. 



THE GARDEN BOBBY AND BETTY MADE 



Bobby and Betty stood at the window one morning very 
early in the spring, watching the big flakes of snow falling. 
They were so disappointed to see snow instead of sunshine! 
The packets of seeds were all in order on the big table, and 
when father came home, the children had expected to help 
him sow the seeds in the garden. But who could make a 
garden in a snow-storm? 

"Suppose we make a garden now, without waiting for the 
snow to melt," suggested mother. 

"Oh, Bobby, I do believe it's a scissors garden !" cried Betty. 

Bobby turned from the window. "Is it, mother?" he asked. 

"Yes," smiled mother, as she put a big pile of seed cata- 
logues and magazines on the table. "First, you may choose 
the pictures of the flowers and vegetables that you like best, 
and cut them out." 

"Let's take turns," cried Bobby. "You 
first, Betty." 

"Oh, thank you Bobby! I'll have this 
lovely aster plant," said Betty. 

"And I'll take this celery," said Bobby. 





39 



40 



THINGS TO MAKE 




"These cabbages, next," said Betty. 

"And I'll have the farmer, with his bar- 
row," said Bobby. 

And so it went on, till each had, all the 
pictures of flowers and vegetables that they 
wished. 

"Now," said mother, "paste each picture to 
a piece of cardboard and then cut it out." 

"But they will not stand up alone," said 
Bobby. 

"No," said mother, "you need to paste a 
little piece of cardboard back of each as a support." 
Fig. 1.) 

When this was done, Bobby and Betty arranged all the pic- 
tures on the table to look like a garden. Here were rows of 
cabbages; near at hand grew the celery. Close by was the 
melon patch, and tall corn was in the back. Down between 



n& 



(See 




THE GARDEN BOBBY AND BETTY MADE 41 



the rows came the gardener with a barrow full of good things, 
and away at the end of the rows you could see a workman 
gathering tomatoes. 

It took a long time to get the garden arranged just as they 
wished it. When it was finished, a sudden light shining in 
the room made Bobby shout : 

"Why, the sun is out!" 

"Yes," said mother, "and the snow is all gone. Spring snows 
do not last long. You may go out of doors now till father 
comes home, and then I am sure you can sow the seeds." 

"What will we do with this garden?" asked Bobby. 

"Oh, mother," cried Betty, "let us take it to the hospital 
for the children to play with." 

"Very well," agreed mother. "I am sure they will like it, 
and it is light and easy for little sick hands to arrange." 

So Bobby and Betty packed the "garden" in a box and 
carried it to the hospital. How much sunshine they carried 
with it you can only know by making a garden yourself and 
taking it to your own hospital. 



THE GORDON TWINS' APRIL FIRST 

"See our April First cards!" cried Helen Gordon, holding 
up a handful of red cards, on each of which was a funny, 
merry face with the words "April Fool." 



(/fTvApni 




"We're going to do something different this year and we'll 
catch every one of you, too !" exulted her twin, Hal. 

The family looked at each other and groaned. They had 
memories of other years, and they silently resolved not to be 
"caught" this time. But they were, every one of them. 

It began with Mary the cook, who came early to the kitchen, 
to find the grate cleaned, the ashes removed, the kindling ready, 
and a little red card sticking out of a full bucket of coal. 

Then father, going to his desk, found a new blotter in the 
pad, fresh ink in the well, new pens on the rack, and all his 
pencils, which the twins frequently borrowed — and, I am sorry 
to say, sometimes forgot to return — well sharpened and in 
order, with another of the little red cards fay their side. Brother 
Robert found, when he went to the workroom, all the tools in 
perfect order and the bench cleared for work. Only a little 
red card gave a clue as to who had done it. Sister Jean, 
going to Helen's room with the clean things from the laundry, 
sighed a little as she thought of the untidy bureau and closet 
she was sure to find. But in the dresser drawer there was 
the daintiest order among the piles of ties, gloves, hand- 
kerchiefs and collars, and the open closet door revealed dresses 
and coats nicely arranged on their hangers. Jean laughed 
with pleasure as her eyes fell on the red cards. Mother rubbed 
her eyes and looked again when she went to the big darning 

42 



THE GORDON TWINS^ APRIL FIRST 4£ 

- 

basket. It was quite empty, and was gay with a new lining, 
a fresh pincushion, a needle-book well filled, and the little 
red card. She turned with a sigh of relief, to spend a delight- 
ful hour with a new book that she had long wished to read. 

Meanwhile, Hal and Helen were busy at school. As Hal 
entered the locker room, Tony Frankino left it. He had placed 
his lunch-box on the shelf close to Hal's and it took but an 
instant for Hal to whisk off the cover and put in a generous 
share of the ham sandwiches from his own lunch, a spice cake, 
an apple, and an orange, with a red card. Do you suppose 
Tony's grin of pleasure when he discovered the joke had any- 
thing to do with the fact that Hal's own lunch had never 
tasted quite so good before? 

Helen, passing Mary Wood's seat when no one was looking, 
dropped on the desk a bag of English walnuts. Now Mary 
was the brightest girl in the class, even though her face was 
black, and she wore shoe-strings on her braids, and did not have 
a silver thimble for use in sewing class as other girls did. 

Such nuts as that bag held! Out of one fell a delicious 
candy; out of two others, some lovely hair ribbons; from an- 
other, the coveted silver thimble, while still another held a 
cunning wax for her thread, made by melting paraffin, mold- 
ing it in a thimble, and putting a wee doll in it while still hot. 
You see, Helen had carefully cracked the nuts, put the things 
in the empty shells, and then glued them together again. 

"It's the loveliest April Fool I ever had !" Mary cried hap- 
pily, and Helen went back to her seat with such dancing eyes 
that the teacher looked at her more than once. "I'll fool her!" 
thought Helen. "I'll have the best lesson!" and she bent over 
her book and studied to such good purpose that she answered 
every question, and was marked "Perfect" in deportment. 



44 THINGS TO MAKE 



"That's a splendid April Fool !" said the teacher, as Helen 
passed from the room and with laughing eyes handed her a wee 
red card. 





Then Hal and Helen ran off for home, but they stopped at 
a small cottage on the way to give cheery greetings to lame, 
old Aunt Martha. "And we have brought you a ball of yarn 
to knit," said Helen, as Hal handed her a huge ball of yarn 
with a pair of needles stuck in it. 

"Mercy!" cried Aunt Martha. "It's as big as your head." 

"It's an April Fool ball, you know," laughed Helen. It 
was an April Fool ball, as Aunt Martha found out in the days 
that followed. For out of that ball there came a soft fichu for 
Martha's Sunday dress, a joke cut from a magazine, a bright 
picture, a chamois cleaner for her glasses, and in the very 
middle something crackly and green which looked surprisingly 
like part of the twins' monthly allowance. Anyway, I know 
Martha smiled when she thought of the next month's rent! 

"And now we'll leave the 'comfort powders' for Miss Anne," 
said Helen as they came to the big white house on the corner. 

"Come in a minute, do," urged Miss Anne's mother. "Your 
young faces cheer her." So the two went up to the couch where 
Miss Anne spent her days. "We have brought you some new 
medicine," twinkled Helen. 



THE GORDON TWINS' APRIL FIRST 45 

"I think Fd better not try it unless the doctor orders it," 
said Miss Anne. 

"Oh, I'm sure it will help you ; do try it," said Hal. 

Thus urged, Miss Anne opened a box of "powders" and 
found wrapped up, in regular powder papers, bright verses, 
jokes, and little §tories. 

"Must I take only one a day?" she laughed. "If they are 
all as good as the first one I want them all now. Here comes 
the doctor. We'll catch him." 

"Ha, ho, ho! changing medicine without my orders?" 
growled the doctor, jerking the lid off the box; his face looked 
so funny when he saw the "powders" that Hal and Helen ran 
away lest they should laugh outright. 

"There's Tom," cried Hal, as they ran up their own steps. 
"Come on, and we'll all play carroms." 

"Just in a minute," answered Helen, and presently she 
joined her cousin and brother, carrying a plate of delicious 
looking fudge. "Have some, Tom," she urged. 

Tom promptly backed off. 

"No, indeed, missy; you don't catch me/' he said. 

"Better try it," said Hal, helping himself. 

Tom gingerly ate one piece, and then another. Presently 
Helen said, gayly, 

"April Fool, Tom." 

Tom grinned as he looked at the empty plate. "I would 
have been fooled, if I hadn't eaten it, and I was anyway, for 
I expected every piece to be a joke. Much obliged, Helen." 

"This has been the best April First!" said Helen. 

"More fun than the mean things we used to do," agreed HaL 



MAY BASKETS 

"May baskets! What are they? What do you do with 
them? How do you make them?" The questions come from 
girls and boys in the West and the South. Yes, I suppose the 
New England boys and girls do know more about hanging 
May baskets than any of us, but it is such a pretty custom that 
I feel all will like to observe it this year, if we never have 
done so before. 

First, then, May baskets need not be baskets at all, but 
pretty boxes or dainty receivers, made with gay tissue-paper, 
streamers, and ribbons. Sometimes they are filled nearly full 
with pop-corn, candy, or little cakes and crackers; but every 
true May basket must contain flowers at the top — real ones, 
if you can get them and if not, the prettiest paper ones you 
can make. When your baskets are made and filled, you steal 
softly, some early evening in the first week of May, to the door 
of some one you wish to remember, hang the basket on the 
door-knob, ring the bell and run away before you are dis- 
covered. You see it is something like a May valentine! You 
can make the May baskets for father, mother, your best friends, 
lonely people, (whom I am sure you will not forget) and any 
one in your town who is a "shut-in." Perhaps your class or 
^club will have a meeting and make ever so many baskets to fill 
for the children in the hospital, or in the Crippled Children's 
Home, or for any one, who is not able to get out in the sun- 
shine, as you are. 

And now for directions for making the baskets. Provide 
white paste, crepe paper napkins with pretty flowered designs 
in the corners, stiff white paper, and scissors. Small candy 
Iboxes will make good foundations. 

46 



MAY BASKETS 47 



Select a small square box, and a napkin that has a square 
design ; cut off the edges of the napkin to the design, and cover 
the box smoothly with it, letting the flowers come at the cor- 
ners. Tie cords or ribbon to each side of the box (Fig. 1, See 
Basket One) and you have as dainty a basket as one can wish. 
The top of the same box may be used to make Basket Two. 
Take three long strips of tissue-paper; (Fig 2) these may all 
be of one color, or you may use two shades of pink and one 
of white. Make the bottom one the widest, and the top one 
the narrowest. Fringe on both edges, cover the outside of the 
box with the fringed paper (the easiest way is to sew it on 
with long stitches), and to cover the uncut middle part of the 
paper paste a row of flowers cut from your napkins ; finish with 
hangers. See Illustration. 

If you wish to send some one a potted plant instead of a 
basket of cut flowers, you can make a pretty cover from a 
napkin, the design of which is circular; back the cut-out part 
with plain white paper; in the center of this paste a piece of 
cardboard the size of the bottom of the pot; punch holes near 
the edge of the outer circle of the fancy paper, thread with 
ribbon and draw the paper up around the pot. (See Fig. 3.) 

A very pretty basket for jonquils or other long-stemmed 
flowers is made by using Pattern A. Cut on heavy lines; fold 
on dotted lines; paste c to d, and fold down and paste points 
x, x; trim with pansies or roses cut from napkins. (See 
Basket Four.) 

The same pattern, or the one called B, may be used to make 
the basket shown in Basket Five. After the basket is pasted, 
cover it with paper which has been cut like Pattern M. Each 
little strip should be % inch wide ; when you have cut the slits 
(you will find it quicker and easier to fold your paper several 
times and cut through all thicknesses at once), you should 



48 THINGS TO MAKE 



round each end as at e; then take the end and turn it over 
sharply, as at k. Beginning at the bottom of your basket, 
paste this paper to it, carrying it round and round; finish at 
the top with green leaves, cut from green tissue-paper or 
out of a flowered napkin. The body of the basket is very 
dainty if made from pure white paper; shades of pink and 
white on the edge remind you of apple-blossoms. 

A cunning little basket like Basket Six may be made by 
Pattern D. Cut on heavy lines, fold on dotted lines, paste, 
and cover either with plain white crepe paper, or flowers cut 
from paper. From a magazine cut kewpies, bunnies, pussies, 
or figures of children ; back them with cardboard to make them 
stiff, giving each one a little standard, then glue to the corners 
of the box. 

A wee market-basket may be made by weaving with double 
strips; the directions may sound hard, but the work is easy 
and fascinating, so do try it. You need two long double strips ; 
these should be at least 18 times as long, when doubled, as they 
are wide. Prepare 16 weavers, of a contrasting color, but the 
same width, as the foundation strips. These should be 3 times 
as long as the width, when doubled. Lay the foundation strips 
flat on the table before you, with the open ends of A under 
your right hand, A being at the front of table; let the open 
ends of B be under your left hand, with B lying just back of, 
but alongside A. Take a small weaver and put it around A 
and into B, working from front to back, that is, you open the 
weaver to pass it both above and below A, and close it to slip 
into B. The next weaver goes around B and into A from back 
to front. Repeat till you have used all the weavers; tighten 
the weaving by holding the opposite ends and pulling gently. 
Trim off the ends of weavers on one side, for the top of basket, 
and turn the others in to strengthen the bottom, which is made 
by pasting in a fitted oblong of paper. See Basket 7. 



MAY BASKETS 



49 



Fold the weaving to allow three squares for each end and 
five for each side. The long ends of the foundations are tucked 
into the weaving and pasted. A strip of paper forms the 
handle, and another piece a little longer than the basket makes 
the cover. Crease this % inch each side of the center, and 
fold ; paste the part between the folds to the top of the basket. 





Basket Thxee 





50 



THINGS TO MAKE 




P at t em A. 




PatlernB 




Pattfin M 












Pattern D 


r 



Basket Seven. 




Basket Six 



BOBBY SENDS BETTY A FAEMYARD 

Bobby was making his first visit to the country, and it 
seemed to him there was something new to see every minute! 
First, there were the pigs in the yard. Bobby loved to stand 
on a pile of clean boards just outside the pig-yard and watch 
them. He was very sure he had never seen anything so funny 
as the curl in the end of the mother pig's tail ! But he thought 
the whole Pig family had very bad table manners ; he was quite 
shocked when he saw them put their feet in the drinking- 
trough at meal-time! 

Then there was the long-legged calf that came night and 
morning to the gate for a big pail of milk. Bobby used to 
watch Bossy drink the milk, but he did not think it at all polite, 
when Bossy gave the pail a big push with his head at the end, 
and ran off without any kind of a thank-you ! 

Bobby dearly loved the white lamb that Aunt Mary fed 
every day from a bottle. The lamb's mother was dead, and so 
Aunt Mary had to feed it this way. It would drink so hungrily, 
its funny tail shaking back and forth all the time till Bobby 
laughed aloud. But even more amusing was the big rooster 
with his proud air and his shining feathers. He walked up 
and down, up and down, as if he knew Bobby was looking at 
him; then he would stretch his neck, and cry: 

"Cock-a-doodle-do-o-o-o" 
till Bobby would clap his hands and say, 

"Do it again! Please do it again!" 

And if Bobby waited long enough, the rooster always did 
do it again! 

51 



52 THINGS TO MAKE 



Bobby never could tell which he liked better, going to 
the barn to hunt for eggs in the new hay, or helping Hulda 
drive the geese into their yard at night. It was such fun to 
put his hand into the nests and take out the smooth, white eggs, 
till the basket was so full that he could hardly carry it. But 
then, the geese were so queer marching along the lane just like 
soldiers, though Bobby was secretly glad Hulda always had a 
long stick in her hand, for once he had seen a goose put out 
her long neck, and hiss dreadfully ! 

But of all the country friends, Bobby loved Rover, the big 
collie, best. He was so wise and kind. He would go to the 
pasture and drive up the cows all by himself when Uncle John 
told him to do so; he kept all the hens away from the garden; 
he was the jolliest playmate a little boy could wish; and he 
could sit up and beg beautifully. 

There was just one thing that Bobby did not like; he told 
Aunt Mary about it one day. 

"I wish Betty were here to see it all," he said. 

Now Betty was ill with scarlatina, and was spending these 
days, while Bobby was on the farm, in the hospital with a 
number of other little children who had it also. She was not 
very ill, but of course Bobby could not go to her. 

"I know what we will do," said Cousin Anna, when she 
heard what Bobby said. "We will send the farm to Betty." 

"Why-ee! How can we?" asked Bobby. 

Cousin Anna brought out paper and scissors, and began 
to draw. First, she drew the mother pig, curly tail and all. 

The lamb came next, and after that Rover, and soon all the 



BOBBY SENDS BETTY A FARMYARD 53 

farmyard animals were on her paper. Bobby cut them out and 
folded them on the lines, x, x, so that they stood up. 

"We will let Betty go egg-hunting, too," laughed Cousin 
Anna. 

How Bobby's eyes sparkled as he watched Cousin Anna 
draw the nest (see Pattern B) ; when he had cut it out, he 
pasted the little flaps, m, m, to a card, and slipped in the eggs, 
e, e; last of all, he put the hen on the nest. 

"It's just most as good as a real nest!" he sighed, happily. 

Bobby cut ever so many geese, and by folding the wings 
just a little, he made them look as if they were running. A 
broom straw made Hulda's stick. It took so long to make all 
the animals that Bobby wrote a "secrets" letter to Betty first. 
This is what he said: 

"Dear Betty: 

Watch for the farmyard animals I am going to send you. 
Uncle John says you may keep them all in your bed, if the 
rooster will not wake you too early in the morning. 

Bobby." 

How excited Betty and the other children were over that 
letter ! Such wondering and guessing as there was ! And when 
the nurse at last brought the box and it was opened, what fun 
the children had playing with the animals. They could hardly 
bear to think of the pretty toys being burned when they were 
well enough to go home. 

"Never mind," comforted Bobby, "we'll make more." 

"And we'll send some more to Nurse Allen, too," said Betty. 



THINGS TO MAKE 




BOBBY SENDS BETTY A FARMYARD 



55 





JACK TELLS HOW THE FINDING OUT CLUB HELPED 

Our Finding-Out Club decided that one way to keep the 
third rule, "Never fail to be friendly to any one who needs a 
friend," was by sharing some of our good things with the boys 
and girls in Miss Harper's city mission school. So we sent 
them our papers and magazines, and some of the books we 
liked best; and we even sent them our copies of Everyland, 
though we were so fond of them that we hated to see them go. 
But they were too good not to share with somebody. Then 
when we were planning our Washington's Birthday party, we 
voted not to have ice-cream, but to send the money for that to 
Miss Harper, and tell her to give her youngsters a party. We 
did not think cake and lemonade for ourselves were half so good 
as ice-cream, but we were glad we had sent the money when 
Miss Harper wrote us what a jolly time her children had ! We 
began to feel as if they were our real friends. And so when 
she told us, one day in May, that several of the children in her 
class would not be able to have a week's fresh air trip in the 
country, because they had no shoes or blouses, and no bags to 
carry them in, we felt as if we must do something. 

We talked it over in the club meeting, and thought as hard 
as we could; still we did not see what we could do. None of 
us have much money, and there was very little in the club 
treasury. Then my mother told me that there were three per- 
fectly good blouses of mine in the closet which I had outgrown, 
and that the shoes I had worn last summer were too small. 
They were ripped in two or three places, but she said if I would 
take them to the cobbler, he could sew them and they would be 
as good as new, and that I could send both the blouses and 
shoes. You may be sure I got those shoes fixed in a hurry, and 
then I took them over to the club meeting and told the other fel- 

56 



HOW THE FINDING OUT CLUB HELPED 57 

lows about it. Pretty soon they all came with things, and the 
girls brought ever so many waists and dresses. We saw that 
part was going to be all right, but we didn't know how to get the 
bags. Miss Andrews, our teacher, suggested that the girls 
make plain straight bags from brown denim, with seams 
strongly stitched on the machine, and firm tapes run in at 
the top for draw-strings, and handles, but we fellows couldn't 
sew, and we didn't want to be left out, either. Then, Mr. 
Drake, who goes on all our hikes, asked if we wouldn't like to 
make cord bags for the boys, and he showed us how to do it, and 
I can tell you we made some fine bags! This was the way 
we did: 

We bought strong cord — macrame is the best — and cut 
24 pieces each two and a half yards long, though Mr. Drake 
said the number of pieces and the length depended a good deal 
on how tightly we would tie the knots, but it was easy to add 
more cords, or tie a piece on if we found they were too short. 
First we placed each piece around a smooth stick, like a broom- 
stick handle, and holding both ends together, tied a knot close 
to the stick. That made Row A of knots. (See illustration). 
Then we took one cord from 1 and one cord from 2, and tied in 
the same way, making the knots just an inch from the stick; 
the other end of 2 was laid with one end of 3 and tied, and so 
on till we had reached the 24th cord, and of course the last 
end there was left loose. When we began How C, we left an- 
other cord loose at the beginning and again at the end. It 
was a little hard to keep the knots just even, so I got another 
stick just wide enough to keep the knots an inch apart if I 
tied close to it every time, and found it much easier and quicker 
to work that way. When we had worked across till the bag 
was deep enough, we slipped it off the stick, and then laid 
cord 1 on top of la, and tied them together; then one end of 
this knot was tied with 2, and the other with 2a, and so on, 



58 



THINGS TO MAKE 



till all the side strings were tied ; last of all we made a row of 
knots across the bottom to close the bag, and for closing the 
top we braided six pieces of cord in a three-strand braid, tying 
it at the ends after it was in the bag. I tell you, those were 
pretty fine bags, and Miss Harper's boys thought so, too. They 
wrote us some letters when they were up in the country and 
told us how they liked the bags, and what jolly times they were 
having, and we were so glad we had helped a little. 



Th.e 
Fin1<>ved 




FOR OUR FRIENDS, THE BIRDS 

"What are you watching so intently, Nellie?" asked Uncle- 
Fred, .coming up to his niece and laying an arm across her 
shoulder, as she stood gazing out of the window, against which 
a cold, heavy spring rain was beating. 

"That poor little bird, huddled under the eaves over there," 
replied Nellie. "He looks so cold and uncomfortable; I wish; 
I could make him understand that he could come into the house 
till the storm is over." 

"I am afraid you cannot do that," said Uncle Fred, "but 
why don't you and John make some shelters for the birds to 
use in these storms? Not a real bird-house, you know, but a 
sort of 'Wayfarers' Inn'." 

"I wonder if we could," said Nellie. She continued to watch 
the little bird for a few minutes, her mind busy with a plan. 
Then she left the room, and, going to the kitchen, she asked: 

"Katie, may I have the box that the new fixtures came in?" 

"Sure, Miss Nellie, no one will be afther wanting that. Yer 
welcome to it." 

A minute later Nellie was on the way to John's attic work- 
room, the box in her arms. John, busy at his bench, looked up 
as she entered. 

"What have you there?" he asked. 

Nellie unfolded her plan, and John was interested at once. 
The box which she had brought was about two feet long, meas- 
uring eight inches across and not quite so deep. John removed 
very carefully the ends of the box and one side. This side he 
nailed to the top of the box, making a roof like the picture. 
The other side of the box and the bottom formed another roof 
like the first, for a second shelter. 

Next John selected four pieces of wood, two for each shelter. 
Each piece was about fifteen inches long, an inch thick, and 
two inches wide. At one end, each piece was cut square; the 

59 



60 THINGS TO MAKE 



other end was mitered, or cut at an angle of 45 degrees, as at A. 
Five inches from the top, and also five inches from the bottom, 
John marked with try-square and pencil, on one face of each 
of the four pieces, an oblong, a, b, c, d, and cut this carefully 
out with a chisel, making each opening % inch wide, y 2 inch 
deep, and 1% inches long. 

The next step was to prepare two cross pieces for each 
shelter, each three inches shorter than the roof, % inch thick, 
and iy 2 inches wide. Through these pieces, at intervals, with 
a %-inch bit, he bored holes, and fitted into each hole a piece 
of carpenter's dowel, ten inches long, letting the dowel project 
equally on both sides of the cross piece. He might have cut or 
whittled the round sticks, but the dowels were so cheap and so 
easy to get, and saved so much time that it seemed better to 
use them. 

Then each of the cross pieces was fitted into its own oblong 
space, and nails and screws were driven to hold them firmly 
together; a cross-bar was nailed to the bottom of the uprights, 
and the roof fastened in place. Last, John painted the shelter ; 
he had done the heavier part of the work, but there was much 
that Nellie could do too. When the paint was dry they carried 
the shelters down to the yard, fastened them to the top of two 
poles near the tool-house, first tacking all around the poles a 
wide strip of tin to keep tabby from encroaching. 

"What are you thinking about, Nellie?" asked Uncle Fred, 
smiling, as Nellie stood looking at the finished house on its pole. 

"She's wishing it would rain again, so she may see if the 
birds will use them," laughed John. 

"Oh, you need not wait for a rainstorm," declared Uncle 
Fred. "Give the birds a bathing house, and see how soon they 
will use your shelters as dressing-rooms." 

"A bathing house!" cried John. "The very thing! Nellie, 
ask Mother if we may have that nice shallow, brown dish we 



FOR OUR FRIENDS, THE BIRDS 61 

> 

brought from the country last summer. I will make a shelf 
on the top of this old hitching-post for it; then we can easily 
reach it to keep the water replenished, and we can watch the 
birds from the tool-house window." 

Nellie soon returned with the pan, and John fastened firmly 
to the top of the post a board somewhat larger all around than 
the pan, so that a lighting-place was afforded. Then the child- 
ren retired to the tool-house. Screened by the vines that grew 
over the windows, they eagerly watched for the first bird visi- 
tor. Soon a bluebird flew down to investigate, and finding the 
fresh, cool water quite to his liking, he took a fine bath, and 
flew to one of the shelters to preen his feathers. Nellie grew 
so excited over his pretty actions that she almost betrayed their 
hiding-place. A robin, and then a starling, soon followed the 
bluebird. 

"Isn't it too bad we did not think about it sooner, and make 
some bird-houses?" mourned Nellie. 

"Now is the time to think about bird-houses for next year," 
said Uncle Fred. "I have some in my pocket." 

"In your pocket!" gasped Nellie. 

"Yes," said Uncle Fred; "would you like to see them?" and 
he drew out a small packet of seeds. "Plant these in your 
garden, and you ought to have a fine crop of gourds. They are 
funny little things, something like cucumbers, you know, but 
these have a crook in the neck, and will dry with a hard shell. 
You may then cut a hole in one side, or near the top of the 
gourd with a small hole at the bottom for drainage. If you 
hang them singly, the bluebirds and the wrens will like them. 
Or you may hang a number of them near together, and make 
an apartment-house for the martins, who like living near each 
other. They are not as durable as a house built of wood, but 
they will last for a season, and it is so easy to get more." 

The children hurried off to the garden to plant the seeds. 



62 THINGS TO MAKE 



As they came back past the kitchen, they saw Katie placing 
some empty tomato cans in a box of refuse. John picked up 
one and looked at it thoughtfully. 

"Do you suppose we could make a bird-house out of this?" 
he asked. "I am going to try, anyway," and he started for 
nis workshop. Not to be outdone by her brother, Nellie selected 
another can and followed. John entirely removed the cut end 
of the can, and fitted to the opening a circular board, after hav- 
ing cut away a part of it for an entrance. Two thin boards 
nailed together formed a roof with a little porch, and served to 
screen the can from the hot sun. It also allowed a row of holes 
along the part of the can that came under the roof, for ventila- 
tion. The roof was wired firmly to the can, and a piece of wire 
was provided to fasten the whole to the limb of a tree. 

Nellie worked in a different manner. The end had not been 
entirely removed from her can, and she bent it back into place. 
The small opening left was no more than was needed for venti- 
lation. With a pair of old but strong shears, she cut a semi- 
circular opening in one side of the can, bending the piece of tin 
down but not removing it, so that it formed a resting-place 
for the bird. She covered the whole can with strips of cedar 
bark which she had peeled from some fallen logs the year be- 
fore, because it was such fun to strip off the long pieces and 
because she admired the pretty brown color so much. It made 
just the right covering for the can now, and a small wire around 
the bark, near the top and the bottom of the can, held it firmly 
in place. The bark strips were a good deal longer than the 
can, and at the top the bark was fastened closely with wire. 
The finished house was a quaint little domicile and quite incon- 
spicuous enough to please the most fastidious bird. 

The idea of using bark as a covering was so pleasing to 
both John and Nellie that they began to look for other kinds, 
and hardly a walk they took that summer failed to furnish 



FOR OUR FRIENDS, THE BIRDS 



63 



some new supply. They collected also hollow branches, and 
even cut off the parts of some old trees that had been hollowed 
out by woodpeckers, as Uncle Fred told them many birds prefer 
this kind of a house to all others. I am sure ingenious boys and 
girls will wish to try some of the plans followed by John and 
Nellie, and that they will find keen interest and delight in get- 
ting well acquainted with their charming neighbors, the birds. 




I 
i 



Ci'Q.sspiece 



Crossviec e 
— I7pri.gjnts- 



]"|U 




Nellie's 
barX-covered 
tomato -caix 
\)ird-tumse 



Bottom cross pieces 




Jcvhrt's tomato-can 
"bird "h-ou.se 



GIFTS FKOM THE COUNTRY 

Nancy sat on the back step, her chin buried in her hands, 
her eyes fixed gloomily ahead, her whole attitude showing the 
deepest dejection. A few yards away, seated on the chopping- 
block, sat her brother Dan, whittling a piece of soft pine. His 
lips, usually puckered for a merry whistle, were closely shut, 
and he looked quite as dejected as Nancy. 

Aunt Madge came around the corner of the house and 
stopped in surprise at the gloomy looks. Then she sat down 
beside Nancy. Nancy moved over a little to make room and 
gave her a quarter of a smile. 

"Don't you think you'd better tell me about it?" asked Aunt 
Madge, after a minute. 

"Oh, Aunt Madge!" cried Nancy so vigorously that Aunt 
Madge fairly jumped, "It's horrid to live in the country and 
not be able to do anything !" 

"Why-y-y!" exclaimed Aunt Madge, too surprised to say 
anything else. 

"You see, it's this way," explained Dan, putting his knife 
into his pocket and coming closer, "we'd like to do the things 
you were talking about last night — you know — the things city 
boys and girls do for mission schools, and gifts to send away, 
and such things, but we can't." 

"Why not?" asked Aunt Madge. 

"Why, Aunt Madge!" cried Nancy. "You know that we 
haven't a thing to give." 

"Oh, you funny, funny children!" laughed Aunt Madge, 
"when you could send such lovely things every month of the 
year." 

"What?" demanded Nancy, breathlessly. 

Aunt Madge looked up over her head, where a climbing 
rose rioted in wonderful bloom. 

64 



GIFTS FROM THE COUNTRY 65 

"This month, roses, and next month, daisies, and after that 
clover-blooms, and next, goldenrod and asters, and then, 
autumn leaves," checking them off on her fingers. 

"But who would want common country flowers?" queried 
Nancy. 

"Why, girlie," returned Aunt Madge, "there are hundreds 
of children in every big city who have never seen a flower 
growing, and the Flower Mission Bands* are glad to have the 
help that only you country boys and girls can give." 

"But how could we get the flowers to the city?" asked Dan. 
"It takes money to send them." 

"The express companies carry them free of charge to cities 
within 150 miles. You drive over to the railway station every 
morning with the milk and you can take every day a box which 
Nancy can help you pack," said Aunt Madge. 

"You said every month!" challenged Nancy, her quarter 
smile now grown a complete one at the prospect. 

"Yes, little Miss Doubter!" retorted Aunt Madge. "In the 
spring, of course, Mayflowers, hepatica, bloodroot, after that 
violets; then buttercups. And for the winter, what do you 
think of rose hips, with their bright red, and bittersweet ber- 
ries, or barberries?" 

"I know where to get whole armfuls of ground-pine, too," 
said Dan. 

"And pine cones, lovely big ones," added Nancy. "Will it 
not be fun?" 

"But that is not all," said Aunt Madge. "Can you imagine 
how the little tots, in the day nurseries, for example, would 
love these for doll tea dishes?" and she opened her hand. 

"Acorn cups!" cried Nancy. "The biggest ones I ever saw 



♦Write to the National Plant, Flower and Fruit Guild, 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City, 
for the address of their organization in the city nearest you and for free transportation labels 
for packages. 



66 THINGS TO MAKE 



grow on our tree in front of the house. I always played with 
them myself when I was little, but I never thought — " 

Aunt Madge smiled, and went on : 

"And Dan says he always has more pop-corn than you can 
use. I never ate any candy half so good as Nancy's sugared 
pop-corn. You could fill as many bags made of net with it as 
you pleased and send them to a mission school at Christmas. 
And if you were to tap those three big sugar-maples that I see 
just over there, and make some maple-sugar in the spring — 
well, I could wish that I might be one of the children that would 
get some of it, that's certain. And I haven't said a word yet 
about the beechnuts, butternuts, and hickory-nuts!" 

"Oh, Aunt Madge!" sighed Dan and Nancy together, too 
excited and happy to say more. 

"That is not half!" declared Aunt Madge. "What about 
the berries, a long procession of them? If you cannot send the 
berries themselves, you can make them into jellies, and the 
apples, cherries, pears, and all the other fruits that you have in 
such abundance can be made into jelly or jam for hospitals, 
and the express companies will carry these, too, free of charge 
to the Flower Guild which is in every large city. Then down 
by the lakeside," and Aunt Madge pointed to the little lake 
which gleamed through the trees, "I saw shells that would be 
wonderful to some city children I know. Those pretty white 
pebbles on the shore at the boat landing would be a great 
treasure to some others. And there are cattails, and the won- 
derful milkweed pods, and more things than I can say. I think 
you are very rich and fortunate children." 

"So do I !" exclaimed Nancy, springing to her feet. "Thank 
you for helping us to find it out. We must get right to work. 
What will you do first, Dan?" 

"Hoe that pop-corn to make sure of a good crop," said Dan, 
taking his hoe down. 



GIFTS FROM THE COUNTRY 



67 



"I'll gather some flowers and let them stand in water up to 
their necks before I pack them in a box to send with the milk 
wagon to-morrow morning/' said Nancy. "Then I am sure I 
can find some ripe berries up in the west pasture. We mustn't 



waste a minute : there is so much we can do." 






FUN AND FIRECRACKERS 

"Somebody please tell me how we are to be 'safe and sane' 
and have any fun on the Fourth of July!" cried Jack Martin, 
throwing himself on the grass under the big maple. 

"Fourth of July!" cried his cousin Alice. "I suppose you 
mean the First of July!" 

"No, indeed," returned Jack. "Why should I mean the 
First? Stay," he cried, striking an attitude, "I had forgotten 
you came from Canada, and something tells me, fair cousin — " 

"Oh, Jack, don't be absurd!" said Helen, his sister. "Of 
course you remember the First is Dominion Day." 

"And what may Dominion Day be, please?" asked Jack 
with a teasing look at his cousin. 

"Our birthday, just as the Fourth is yours," returned Alice, 
spiritedly, "and we celebrate it in much the same way." 

"And father says we are to be 'safe and sane' this year," 
said Jack, dropping back on the grass, with a disgusted look. 
"Pretty slow, I call it." 

"There goes that kid again," exclaimed Allen, his eyes on 
a small figure trudging along the dusty highway just beyond 
the gate. "What do you suppose he has in that pail?" 

"Water," returned Jack. "He is carrying it to the work- 
men who are repairing the road just around the bend." 

"Pretty heavy load for such a youngster, I should think," 
commented Allen. 

"He is an Italian," said Helen ; then added soberly, "he has 
so many little brothers and sisters, I suppose he has to work 
to help feed them." 

"Where do they live?" asked Alice. 

"In that tiny house by the bridge," said Helen. "There is 
a crippled girl in the family, too. I saw her at the window 
one day when we passed." 

68 



FUN AND FIRECRACKERS 69 

"They must think America is a hard place to live in," said 
Jack warmly, staring down the road. 

"Wouldn't it be fun to give them a good time here under 
these big trees, and let them know that we are their friends?" 
suggested Alice. 

"Let's do it for the Fourth!" cried Helen. 

"And tell them about the Declaration, and the flag and — " 

"We can get crepe paper and cut out lovely flags." 

"And the liberty bells, too — " 

"The little lame girl can take them home to make her room 
gay—" 

"And we will have ice-cream and cake and lemonade — " 

"And firecrackers," added Alice. 

"A 'safe and sane' Fourth, I tell you; father said so!" 
cried Jack, striking his hands together. 

They all laughed at his vigor. 

"No, we must have firecrackers, the kind that not even Uncle 
John could object to," insisted Alice. "Wait ! I'll show you." 

She ran into the house, to return a moment later with sev- 
eral mailing tubes, a roll of red paper, paste and scissors. 
Quickly she covered a tube with red paper, first closing one 
end with a piece of paper pasted firmly over it. (See Fig. 1.) 
Then a piece of brown paper, folded and rolled to fit into the 
top, with a bit of string sticking out of the middle (See Fig. 
2), made a stopper, and it looked just like a very big real fire- 
cracker. (See Fig. 3.) 

"We will make enough for each child in the family, and 
fill them with candy," she said. 

"We can use pop-corn and small crackers, too," said Jack. 

"And a painting book and crayons for the lame girl would 
go in another," said Allen. 

"There is one of the little sisters who makes wonderful 
crocheted lace, I shall put some thread in hers," said Helen. 



70 



THINGS TO MAKE 



"Oh, mother," called Jack, as he saw his mother crossing 
the lawn, "do come and hear our Fourth of July plans." 

"That is a fine plan," assented mother, "but I have just 
heard we must start for Canada." 

For a minute, there was great disappointment. Then Helen 
had a brilliant idea. 

"We will celebrate the First in the States," she said. 

"And the Fourth in the Dominion," cried Alice. "Don't 
you remember that Ruthenian settlement just north of the 






village, Allen? They would enjoy a party like this as much as 
these Italian children." 

"Great," declared Jack. "And let's teach them all to sing 
that lovely new American song: <Oh beautiful for spacious 
skies'." 

"Yes indeed!" agreed Allen. "I am sure we can sing with 
all our hearts: 

'And crown the good with brotherhood, 
From sea to shining sea!'" 



A SUMMER CHRISTMAS-TREE PARTY 

"Why, how queer," I hear some of you exclaim. "Christmas 
does not come in the summer ; it's much too early to even think 
about it. The printer must have made a mistake." 

No, it is not a mistake; it is not too early to think about 
Christmas; and a tree party in the summer is the very best 
fun, for it is the giving kind, and that is always better than the 
getting kind. So just listen while I tell you about it. 

Did you ever look and look for a Christmas package that 
did not come? And do you remember how disappointed you 
were? Or perhaps it came very late, weeks after Christmas, 
and half the fun of getting it was gone. Now this is just what 
sometimes happens to our little brothers and sisters on the 
other side of the world, all because American boys and girls do 
not think of Christmas in the summer, and start the packages 
on their long trip to the missionaries early enough to make sure 
of their arriving in time. And a summer Christmas tree party 
is just to get the gifts ready and packed and sent, so that no 
little mission children may be disappointed when the 25th of 
December really arrives. So let us plan for our party this very 
minute. 

Where shall we have it? Where, indeed, should we have a 
summer party but out-of-doors? We can use a pretty little tree 
that grows on the lawn; yes, any one of them will do nicely. 
Best of all, not one of them will need to be cut down, but can 
keep right on growing after their Christmas load has been 
taken off, and next year we will find them in the same place, 
ready for another party! 

It may be a little hard to find a tree if our party is to be 
given in the city ; but if nothing better can be done, it will be 

possible to buy a tree, and set it up in the house, or the yard, 

• 

71 



72 THINGS TO MAKE 



just as we do in the winter. Only, we must find some way to 
have the tree. 

The best fun of all will be the tree itself. We will have it 
trimmed with the decorations that we make from the directions 
on page 74, and we will have all the gifts, hanging on the 
branches, before the party begins. Let us be careful to wrap 
the packages very daintily and neatly, just as we would for 
father and mother or sister, and then let us fasten to each a 
small slip of white paper, with a little description of the gift 
which is inside the wrapper. For instance, we will say on one, 
"A work-bag with thread and thimble; for a girl of 14"; or, 
"A knife with two blades ; for a boy." This will save the mis- 
sion teachers the time and trouble of unwrapping and re- 
wrapping each one of our packages. For how could they know 
to whom to give a pretty bundle unless they knew what was in 
it? And you know missionaries are very busy people. 

The tree, then, will be as beautiful as we can make it when 
our guests arrive, and after we have played the games till we 
are tired we will gather in a big circle around the tree and sing 
some of the dear old Christmas songs; then some grown-up 
will tell us the story of the first Christmas, and, as we listen, 
we will be, oh so glad that our little friends in other lands are 
hearing that story too, and that we can have a little share in 
making their lives brighter and happier. 

Then, last of all, we will take the gifts and the trimmings 
from the tree, and pack them carefully in a case, ready to send 
on their journey. As each thing is taken from the tree, we will 
repeat our favorite verse from the Bible, and lay the gift in the 
big box with a Christmas wish for the person to whom it goes. 
All our guests will help us in the packing, and when the last 
thing is safely in place, father or our biggest boys will fasten 
the box up securely, and the expressman will take it away 
for us. 



A SUMMER CHRISTMAS-TREE PARTY 73 

Weeks before the party comes off, our Sunday-school teacher 
or some one will have written to the secretary of the mission 
board, (the minister knows where), to get the correct address 
of our missionary, and shipping directions, and this address 
will be marked plainly on the outside of the big box, so that 
no mistake can be made. And when the last nail has been put 
in, the last letter written, and the box actually started, I 
am sure we will all be ready to say that there is no nicer party 
to be had than a summer Christmas-tree party. 



THINGS TO MAKE FOR THE SUMMER 
CHRISTMAS TREE 

In planning for your tree remember to provide things 
that will stand shipping well. First, get a quantity of English 
walnuts. Open them carefully by inserting a small pen-knife 
blade at the stem end. Remove the meat, and after gluing the 
edges of the half-shells, put them together again, first insert- 
ing a length of ribbon for a hanger. When the glue has thor- 
oughly dried, give the shells a coat of gilt or silver paint. Ten 
cents' worth of paint will cover ever so many shells, and you 
can make dozens of them in a single rainy afternoon. 

Pop a quantity of corn to string for your tree, pack it in 
tin biscuit or coffee boxes, and it will journey safely around 
the world. 

The very smallest children can have some part in this 
wonderful summer tree, and they will love to make yards of 
paper chain out of bright silver, gilt, and colored paper cut 
into strips and pasted into rings. 

Pretty paper garlands are made of red, white, and holly- 
green paper in 3-inch squares, strung as in Figure 1. Use 
plain tissue paper, and push it up on the string so as to crumple 
it ever so little. Or you may cut dozens of little bells, like 
Figure 2, from red paper, and string them through the hole in 
the top. These will add a pretty note of color to your tree, and 
later, to some gloomy room. 

Stars cut from pasteboard and covered with gilt or silver 
paper are easy to make, too. Candy holders, like Figure 3, 
made of red paper, look very pretty on the tree, also. They 
could be sent flat, with directions for fastening, and in that case 
instead of pasting them, you should send with them a box of 
small paper fasteners, to be put in at x, x. 

Whatever else vou leave out, do not forget to put in some 

74 



THE SUMMER CHRISTMAS TREE 75 

splendid big pine cones, and, for the missionaries, a tin box of 
pine or balsam needles, that may be burned in the open fire- 
places to give "the Christmas smell." For you know many of 
these brave workers cannot find our kind of Christmas tree, 
and a whiff of the spicy odor makes them forget how far away 
from home they are. 

The mission children dearly love to receive small bottles of 
perfumery. These would need to be well packed, if they are 
to go safely, so why not wrap each one in a small ball of 
cotton, and cover it all with crepe paper, to look like a big red 
or green apple? If you do this you should put in a letter, tell- 
ing the teacher what to expect in the parcel, so that she may 
give it to the right child. As for gifts, the Lady-Who-Knows 





says, send the boys writing tablets, small cakes of soap, colored 
crayons, penknives, marbles, and lead-pencils. You will find 
ways of earning money with which to buy these things, and 
you may like to make the cases in which to put some of them. 
You will find it better to buy pencils and crayons by the dozen 
and make your own assortments. Boxes to hold three pencils 
may be quickly made from Pattern A; a box for six crayons 
from Pattern B. A bit of book-mending tape in the inside of 
each corner, makes a stronger box. You may use for your box 
stiff paper or thin cardboard. Passe-partout binding is effect- 
ive as a trimming, and also adds to the strength, and a few 
Christmas seals give the boxes the holiday touch. 



76 



THINGS TO MAKE 



The marbles should be put in strong but pretty bags. A 
small case for the knives may be made from a bit of leather, or 
you may put each in a little paper box. 

The younger children will love to make some stocking scrap- 
books for the mission little ones. Fold two pieces of paper as 
in Figure 4 and cut on the heavy black line. Or if it is easier, 
lay one of the baby's little stockings on your white paper, and 
cut around it. Then sew the two papers together at the top; 
only two long stitches are required. Now paste in this book 
the pictures that you think little children would like, and 



fc — a*^-» — 9«"-=- 


fr— -r — 


■Hi—' t*^— d 


\ \ 

\ * * 




x / 


\ & ' 

\ » 


i 

i i 


A / 


\ \ 
\ \ 


• 




PIC. >. \ * » 






candyholdeA \ 

Fold on dotted \ \ I 
Mcs, ; paste scctiok \ \ 
AonB,orfa5len\\ j 
at x with brass \\| 
paper fasteners \ 


/ / 






Stocldng ScrapBooK 



fasten a red string at the top to hang it up by. 

Or you may prefer to make your scrap-books look like a 
chimney. Then you will need some red cardboard, which you 
will line off to look like bricks, as in Figure 5. Back of this tie 
white leaves of the same size as those on which you have pasted 
the pictures. The finishing touch would be a picture of Santa 
Claus, cut from a postal card, and pasted at the top as if he 
were just about to go down the chimney. 



THE SUMMER CHRISTMAS TREE 



77- 



But I have left the very best for the last. This is the work 
for the girls who can sew nicely. The mission teachers always 
say that there are never enough dolls sent to supply all the 
needs, and our older girls will be glad to dress dolls, and dolls, 
and then more dolls. Let the clothes be plain, but made just 
as neatly as possible, as the teachers like to use them as pat- 
terns from which the girls can copy. If possible, get the inde- 
structible dolls, rather than those jointed with rubber, for they 



c c 

c c 



PATTERN A. 



t 



Sliding Pencil 3ox 



COMPLETED BOX 



o 




Box for Crayons 



last so much longer. Dress them in any pretty color except 
red, or white, which in many countries is used as mourning. 
And of course you will make clothes that will "go on and off," 
and of material that will wash. 

One thing that will delight the little foreign girls is a nice 
work-bag. Choose some strong but pretty wash material; 
chambray, linen, gingham, or cretonne will be good. Make 
them in any style that you like, and put into them such things 



78 



THINGS TO MAKE 



.as you wish ; thimble, scissors, darning and sewing cotton, pins 
and needles, are all useful, you know. 

One more thing and I am sure you will have enough to keep 
your fingers busy for many a day. You know you can buy very 
pretty prints of the great paintings of the Christmas story for 
a half-cent each, and extra fine ones for five cents. Get as 
many of these as you wish and make some Christmas cards or 
folders. Use for the folder an art cover paper in a gray, or if 
you get the sepia prints, you will choose a soft, lovely brown. 
Fold your paper, after you have cut it to proper size, as in C, 
mount your picture, leaving space for the mission teacher to 
write in a Christmas verse, and on the outside, paint or draw 
with crayon, a spray of pine or holly, and you will have a simple 
gift that will carry the thought of Christmas wherever it goes. 





PATTERN C. 



FIG. 5. 



FOLDER CLOSCO 



THE "CANDY KID V 

In most cases, where Sunday-school classes or clubs provide 
candy for home mission schools at Christmas, it seems wiser to 
make the square net bags, and send them with money, allowing 
ten cents for each bag. The candy can generally be pur- 
chased as cheaply where the mission school is located, and the 
empty bags are more easily sent. So, as a matter of conve- 
nience to the mission teacher, the bags ought to be made in a 
shape most easily filled, and not much variation of the square 
form can be found, though net cut in the shape of stockings or 
mittens is good. 

But if your Christmas gift of candy is to go 
to some near-by city mission, so that you can fill 
the bags before sending them, an amusing form 
is the "candy kid." Cut a piece of coarse white 
net in the form of Fig. A. Overhand the doubled 
edges with red yarn. Make the feet and legs just 
large enough to take a stick of the old-fashioned 
striped candy; this must be broken to make the 
right length for each foot; another break may be made, if you 
wish, at the knee. The body may be filled with either stick or 
lump candy. For the head, use a large flat mint candy, 
wrapped in white paper, with the features marked on the 
paper with ink; let the paper wrapping extend into the body, 
and draw the net up closely about it, sewing firmly enough to 
hold well. A gay necktie may hide the stitches and make a 
hanger by which to suspend the "kid." If you choose, instead 
of the mint face you may use a lollypop, wrapping the candy 
part in paper, and pushing the stick well down into the body. 
For the arms, cover sticks of candy of the right length in net 

79 




80 



THINGS TO MAKE 



cases and fasten them to the body. A paper cap may also be 
pasted to the head. 

Nuts, pop-corn, and small crackers may also be used to fill 
the bags, though the candy is best for the legs and arms, as it 
gives stiffness and shape to them. 

One club of girls filled stockings with useful gifts and toys 
for a settlement club, and tied "candy kids" to the outside of 
each one. The effect was very pretty and funny. 

The "kids" might be used also as favors at a party for 
children which your club may be giving at Christmas time as 
one way of sharing your good things, or you might make a 
number of them to sell at a fair. 




PAPER DOLLS 

Grandmother had just sent Bobby and Betty a roll of the 
most fascinating paper, covered with pictures.* Along a lovely 
green path, dotted with daisies, walked a wee lassie in pink 
dress, white apron, and pink and white sunbonnet. She car- 
ried a book and slate, and of course was going to the little 
schoolhouse just under the hill, where the flag was waving so 

gayly. 

"Do you suppose she is 'A dillar, a dollar, a ten-o'clock 
scholar'?" asked Bobby. 

"Oh, no !" said Betty. "It is Mary ; don't you see her lamb?" 

"Sure enough !" cried Bobby. "And over there is Bo-Peep." 

"And Red Riding-Hood, with her basket," said Betty. 

"What shall we do with the paper, Betty?" asked Bobby. 

"Let's ask mother to put it around the nursery wall, and 
then we will keep it forever and ever!" 

"Oh, let's !" agreed Bobby. 

So mother helped the children fasten the paper to the wall, 
and they never tired of looking at it and talking about it. 

One day, Aunt Helen came to visit them. She had a won- 
derful story to tell them about her visit to New York. 

"I went to Ellis Island," she said, "to see the big ships 
come in with all the people who are some day to be Americans 
Such a lot of children as there were ! Some of them had been 
sick, and all of them felt strange and lonesome. And many of 
them had long trips to take on the cars before they could rest. 
I did so wish I could give the little ones some toys to make the 
way seem shorter, and to make them feel I was their friend." 

"Didn't they have any toys?" asked Betty. 

"Very few of them had even one," said Aunt Helen. "I 



F Dennison crepe paper secured from a stationery store. 

81 



82 



THINGS TO MAKE 



wonder if you and Bobby could not make some paper dolls for 
me to take back to them next month?" 

Betty and Bobby looked at each other a long minute. Then 
Bobby said slowly, 

"We — might — use — our — lovely — paper." 

For just an instant longer they looked at each other, then 
hand in hand, they ran to Mother. 

"Oh, mother, please help us take down the paper to make 
dolls for the little stranger children," they cried. 

So mother helped them take the paper from the wall, and 
soon they were cutting out the gay little figures, and pasting 






them carefully to cardboard, and giving each a little brace to 
make it stand up. Soon a whole row of Marys and Bo-Peeps 
and Red Riding-Hoods stood on the table. Mother brought a 
box, and the children packed them all away tenderly. 

"I wish they could really talk, and tell the little strangers 
we welcome them," said Betty. 

"The little stranger children will understand," smiled Aunt 
Helen, "even if your dear dollies cannot talk !" 



GOOD-BY GIFTS TO MISSIONARIES 

"Next month is the last club meeting we shall have with 
Miss Mary," said Nan, soberly. 

"Our last Scout meeting with Mr. George, too," said Will. 

"I do hate to think of our not having them any more," cried 
Anna, almost weeping, "but I suppose those people in China 
need them more than we do." 

" 'Spose they do," assented Fred. "Do you know what I 
have been thinking?" he went on. "The grown-ups are going 
to give them some fine presents before they leave ; why shouldn't 
we young people do the same? I don't mean something very 
grand ; just something that we would make ourselves, and that 
they would really use, and that would make them know we 
cared, too." 

"Good idea, Fred," said Will, "but what could we make?" 

"Mr. George and Miss Mary both admire copper things so 
much, we might make them some desk articles for the big desk 
the Sunday-school is giving them for a wedding present," said 
Fred. 

"Very well," agreed Will, "I'll make the book supports and 
a letter holder. What will you do?" 

"I'll make a pencil holder and a blotter," replied Fred. 

"And I'll make a calendar," added ten-year-old Ben. 

"Ho ! you can't !" scoffed Fred. 

"Oh, let him try," said Will good-naturedly. "Maybe he 
can." 

"Let's begin right away ; we'll leave the girls to make their 
own plans," said Fred. 

So the boys departed for the workshop, where they kept 
their tools and copper. With a pair of heavy tinners' shears 
Will cut two pieces of sheet copper like Pattern A, and one 
piece like Pattern B. Then he smoothed the edges with a file, 

83 



84 THINGS TO MAKE 



and hammered the whole surface of the parts marked x, x. 
For this he used a round-headed hammer, called a ball-peen 
hammer. Then laying the dotted line on the sharp edge of a 
very hard piece of wood, with a leather mallet he slowly and 
carefully bent the pieces of copper till A took the shape indi- 
cated by a, and B, that shown by b. Then he bent the 
corners to flare out a little, and polished the whole with a piece 
of old emery cloth, finally rubbing them with a soft rag dipped 
in a little banana oil. 

Fred cut his pencil holder by Pattern C, and handled his 
copper in the same way that Will did. For the top of the 
blotter, he used Pattern D, folding m, m, over the sides of the 
larger oblong, and pounding it down tightly in place, to make 
the sides stiffer. The whole top he hammered as Will had done ; 
y, y, he bent at a little less than a right angle. Then he cut a 
piece of copper the same width and a little longer than Pat- 
tern D between the dotted lines, rounded it slightly, and fitted 
it under the two pieces, y, y, and had a very good rocking 
blotter. See d. 

Ben watched very closely, and then he found a small piece 
of copper, which a very little cutting made exactly the shape 
of E. He drew a line e, e, and folded the copper back on that 
line till it would stand nicely and glued a calendar to the face 
of it. See E. A little hammering with the ball-peen hammer 
made this piece match the others, and completed a very pretty 
desk set. 

"Pretty fine, boy!" cried Fred. "Miss Mary will like the 
set a whole lot better because of that calendar." 

Meanwhile the girls had not been idle. 

"I shall make Miss Mary a case for soap leaves," said Nan. 
"I can buy a package of soap leaves at the drug store for a few 
cents, and I can make a cloth case like an envelope for her to 
carry them in. She'll need that traveling." 



GOOD-BY GIFTS TO MISSIONARIES 85 

"I shall make her a wee clothes-line and case, with pins, 
for she loves to keep her pretty collars and cuffs white," said 
Anna. "This leather will be just the thing; it only needs a 
strap to hold the pins, a cork with two push pins in either end, 
and a nice strong white string tied to them." 

"Where can you get the clothes-pins?" asked Nan. 

"In the toy department of any store, only five cents for a 
barrel of six," replied Anna. "And I have a little verse to go 
with the case: 

'Many a little thing 
Upon this string 
While traveling 
Will dry. 
Just try!' " 

"I shall make a present for Miss Mary, all by myself," an- 
nounced nine-year-old Beth, "and mine shall have a verse, too." 

"Oh Bethy dear, what will you make?" laughed Anna. 

"You wait and see," returned Beth with dignity, as she 
walked away to the house. 

An hour later she returned. "See my present for Miss 
Mary!" she cried. In a tiny blue box which had held her 
bottle of Christmas perfume, were ten wee spools of colored 
sewing silk, strung on a ribbon, to keep them from scattering. 

"I bought them at the ten cent store," she said. "And here 
is a paper of needles, and a bodkin, and a thread waxer." 

"Oh, Beth, how cunning! Where did you get it?" cried 
Anna. 

"Made it !" returned Beth, triumphantly. "Bridget gave me 
the end of a paraffin candle, and I melted it in a thimble, and 
put a penny doll in it before it hardened; his necktie keeps 
him from getting lost, and makes it easy to lift him out, too." 

"And she even has a verse," said Nan. 

And in Beth's careful printing, the girls read : 



86 



THINGS TO MAKE 



"A stitch in time — you know the rest, 
A saying wise to heed! 
So here are silks of many a hue 
To meet that instant need; 
With needles sharp, and bodkin too, 
And wax to make your thread run true." 

"Aunt Nell helped me with the verse," said Beth. "Do you 
think Miss Mary will like it and her present?" 

"Bless your heart!" cried Nan. "She is sure to think it is 
the dearest little sewing kit she ever saw, and use it a hundred 
times on her journey." 




Calendar 



Letter RacK Pencil Holder 



sfir 



Pattern, D 




BooIl B.acl5^ 



GOOD-BY GIFTS TO MISSIONARIES 



87 




Pattern. B 



V 



Many a lmie thins 
Upon this 5tring 
"While travelin$ 
Will dry: 
Just try 




6 ^ 





u 



1 

Pattern E 



if 



BOBBY AND BETTY MAKE A NOAH'S ARK 



It was so rainy that Bobby and Betty could not go out. 

"What shall we do, mother?" they asked. 

"This is a good day to mend your books," said mother. 

She showed them how to paste the little strips of tissue 
mending-paper over the torn places, and how to fasten in loose 
leaves with book tape. 

"But how shall we ever mend these?" asked Bobby, after a 
little, as he brought an armful of picture-books to the table. 
"The covers are gone, and some of the leaves, but there are 
ever so many animal pictures." 

"Why don't you make a Noah's ark?" asked mother. 

"Oh, Mother! How could we?" cried Bobby. 

"Cut out each animal, paste it to some 
of this nice white cardboard, to make the 
picture stiff enough to stand, and then 
paste a little support to the back of each 
one," said mother. (See Fig. 1, for sup- 
port. ) 

Bobby and Betty went to work with a 
will, and as each animal was finished they 
stood it up on the table. Pretty soon there 
was a double row of them all the way 
around the table. 




Fi£. 



88 



BOBBY AND BETTY MAKE A NOAH^S ARK 89 



"Aren't they fine?" exulted Betty. 

"But where are the people?" asked Bobby. 

"To be sure!" cried Mother. "We must have a Noah, and 
a Mrs. Noah, and the children." 

So she hunted through some old magazines, and finally 
found two quaint figures that would answer very nicely. 

"Oh, we will use them for patterns," said Betty, "and trace 
others on white paper. We can color them with our crayons." 

Very soon the "people" were finished, and stood bravely at 
the head of the procession. 

"What shall we do with them now?" asked Bobby. 

"Let's send them to Nurse Norton, in the Crippled Chil- 
dren's Home," said Betty. 




"Oh, yes," agreed Bobby; "her sick children will love to 
play with them." 

So Mother brought a box, and Bobby and Betty carefully 
packed all the animals in it. 

"There, Mr. Noah!" cried Betty as she tucked the last 
figure in the box, "go and make the little crippled children 
laugh !" 

"And tell them we love them!" added Bobby. 



HALLOWE'EN FUN 

"Now, children, you mind what I say," and Ned Brown 
made his voice deep and solemn. "There sure is spooks and 
witches around on Hallowe'en night, and the gobble-uns '11 git 
you ef ye don't watch out!" 

Harriet's dusky pigtails, with their shoe-string bows, stood 
out straighter than ever, and her eyes were as big as saucers. 
Sadie Hilsky tried to turn her nose up in her usual defiant 
manner, but how can one be defiant, with the cold chills run- 
ning up and down one's back? Helen Brown came around 
the corner at this instant. 

"Ned Brown, what are you saying to these children? I do 
believe you are trying to frighten them !" she declared. "Don't 
you care, girls," she added reassuringly. "Ned, come on home, 
you bad boy!" 

The girls hurried away, and Ned followed his sister, still 
laughing. In a minute they had overtaken Uncle Fred, and 
Ned chuckled as he told what he had said to the girls. 

"Harriet's eyes almost popped out of her head," he de- 
clared. "I'd like to go around to her house and leave a big 
Jack-o-lantern. I bet she'd squeal so loudly that you could 
hear her ten blocks away!" 

"Well, why not do it?" asked Uncle Fred. "I'll help you." 

Helen looked at her uncle in amazement. That he, the best 
and kindest uncle in the world, should not only fail to reprove 
Ned for his proposed prank, but even offer to help him carry 
it out was beyond belief. She was about to speak, when a queer 
little gleam in Uncle Fred's eye made her shut her lips tightly. 

"Come up to my room with the rest of the boys and girls 
after supper," went on Uncle Fred, "and we will see." 

Ned went to tell his chums about it, and Helen gathered 
her friends together to explain. 

90 



HALLOWE'EN FUN 91 



"If Uncle Fred plans it, I am sure it will be great fun,, 
so be sure to come over right after supper." 

"Now who is it we would like to visit on Hallowe'en night?" 
began Uncle Fred, when a dozen or more boys and girls wer& 
gathered around the open fire in his den. 

"Well, first there is Harriet Field and her folks," said Ned. 

"Harriet's mother washes for us," said Anna. 

"Harriet wears shoe-strings on her braids," said Lou. 

"They're pretty poor, I guess." 

"None of the Field kids ever bring any lunch to school ex- 
cept dry bread," added Dan. "Their father is dead, and the 
mother works awful hard, my mother says." 

"Then there is the Hilsky family," added Ned rather 
hastily, as if he did not like to think of the Fields. 

"They're poor, too," said Hugh. "They have only been in 
this country a little while, and the father speaks very little 
English." 

"The mother was scrubbing at our house the other day, and 
said she was so glad to have the work, for the rent was due 
next week, and if they did not pay they would be turned out," 
said Alice. 

"H'm'm !" said Uncle Fred. "Don't you think we had better 
take them the biggest Jack-o-lantern we can make?" Then 
while the young people stared at him in surprised silence he 
added, tossing a coin in the air and catching it as it fell, "We 
might make him help pay the rent, you know." 

"Oh, Uncle Fred!" cried Helen, as she caught the idea,. 
"How lovely!" 

"Could we make Jack-o-lantern feed them, too, do you 
think?" asked Allen. 

"Well, why not?" queried Uncle Fred. 

Then how the tongues did fly, as plans were made for "the- 
best, the very best Hallowe'en fun we ever had!" 



92 



THINGS TO MAKE 




V — € 



Fig. i. 



Fig. 2 




For the few days that came before Hallowe'en, Ned con- 
tented himself with making big eyes at Harriet, and Sadie, but 
there was such a good-natured twinkle in them that Harriet 
could not feel very much troubled by it, and when there came 
a loud rap at the door just after dusk on Hallowe'en night, she 
found courage to open it and look out. Such a strange sight 
she saw! Across the little porch marched the queerest pro- 
cession! "Oh, Mammy, come and see!" she cried. 

Mammy and the children came running. First they saw a 
huge Jack-o-lantern, with twisted grinning mouth and huge 
teeth. "Nem mine, honey. He'll sure make a good puddin'!" 
said Mammy. Then as she lifted it to the table and took off 
the top she found several small packages in the bottom. What 
were they? Well, one made Mammy smile, as she thought of 
the rent; and this is certain, Harriet came to school the next 
day with some wonderful red hair ribbons in place of the old 
shoe-strings ; and Joe wore a pair of warm gloves when he car- 
ried his morning papers. 

But the Jack-o-lantern was only a part of the procession ; in 
a minute Mammy came back to the door to see what the rest 
might be. She found the oddest looking pig that could be 
dreamed of ; when the paper that made his body, and the paste- 
board and sticks that made his face and legs were torn away, 
the foundation proved to be a strip of bacon that would give 
the Fields many a good breakfast. (See Fig. 1.) Behind the 
pig, stood a Chinese gentleman. He was cut from cardboard, 



HALLOWEEN FUN 



93 





Fig. 3- 
(See Fig. 2) colored with crayon, his body was a bag of tea,, 
enough to last Mammy for weeks. 

Next came Market Basket Mary (See Fig. 3) ; a big cab- 
bage was tied to the handle of a market-basket for her head, 
her mouth was carved; she had a date nose, and eyes made of 
white paper pinned in place with black-headed pins; a warm 
shawl was draped around her shoulders, and hid the body, 
which was made of the basket, and that was filled with more 
good things than I can tell you about. 

Last of all, was a funny little figure with a very large head, 
and a small cap. (See Fig. 4.) It was a bag of candy, the 
frill at the top forming the cap. Stiff cardboard made the 
arms and the legs which were sticking out straight in front; 
gumdrops made the eyes, a stick of striped candy sewed to the 
bag made the mouth, and a candy heart made the nose. Little 
Sam liked this one the best of all ! 

"Where'd they come from, Mammy?" queried Harriet. 
"Did the gobble-uns bring 'em?" 

"Maybe so," said Mammy. But as she heard the sound of 
suppressed giggling behind the woodpile, she added under her 
breath, "Bless their hearts! Those young'uns are always 
helpin' some one!" 

When Harriet and Sadie met the next morning each had a 
wonderful story to relate. They tried to tell Ned about it. 



D4 THINGS TO MAKE 



"Keally now, don't you think you were just dreaming?" he 
teased. 

But Harriet and Sadie, while agreeing that their new rib- 
bons were "dreams," yet knew they were real too, and so were 
the good things that were stowed away on the pantry shelves, 
awaiting the need of hungry little mouths. Harriet and Sadie 
say that there must be two kinds of "gobble-uns," and that the 



good kind came to them. 



BOBBY AND BETTY MAKE A "CANDY DANDY" 

Bobby reached up and took down the red apple bank from 
the shelf, and Betty shook it till the last penny rolled out. 

Then they both counted the pennies. 

" — thirteen, fourteen, fifteen!" said Bobby. "Oh, cousin 
Harry, will fifteen cents buy six bags of candy?" 

"No, indeed !" said Harry. "At least not six bags of candy 
that is fit to eat." 

Bobby and Betty looked gravely at each other. 

"We'll ask mother," said Betty. 

Why must you have six bags of candy?" asked mother. 

"Because Miss Allen told us Sunday there were six little 
children, very little children, mother," said Bobby gravely, "in 
her mission class, who will not have any Christmas, unless 
Betty and I help." 

"I understand," said mother. "Let me put on my thinking 
cap !" So she sat down in her low chair before the fire, while 
Bobby and Betty stood on each side, as still as mice . 

Pretty soon mother looked up. 

"I have it!" she cried. "Put on your coats and hats and 
run down to the drug store on the corner. Get a five-cent pack- 
age of the large sticks of candy, and a ten-cent jar of the small 
sticks, and we'll make — well, you will see what we will make !" 
she said. 

How Bobby and Betty did hurry! They were soon back 
with the candy. Mother had put on the table some plain cards, 
some bits of bright red ribbon, needles and coarse thread, pens 
and ink, and a small dish of melted chocolate. 

Bobby and Betty watched her closely as she began work. 
She tied one of the large sticks of candy to the center of a 
card with a bit of red ribbon. The other end of the stick she 
fastened with the coarse thread. Two smaller sticks of candy, 

93 



96 



THINGS TO MAKE 



broken at the middle, were sewed to the card at the lower end 
of the big one, and two more at the upper end. (See picture, 
for position of arms and legs.) 

Then with the melted chocolate, mother marked the face. 

"Oh, oh!" cried Betty, as mother added shoes and gloves 
with ink, "it's a man, a candy man !" 

"No," corrected Bobby, in high glee, as mother drew the 
high hat and gloves, "it's a dandy, a 
candy dandy!" 

"Isn't he the sweetest dandy !" crowed 
Betty. 

"Course!" laughed Bobby. "He's a 
candy dandy!" 

"And a very pure candy dandy," 
smiled mother, "who will not make any 
one sick. We will give him a cane and 
eyeglasses too. Now let us put a ribbon 
at the top of the card to hang it by." 

"Candy dandies are ever so much 
more fun than just bags of candy," said 
Bobby, as he fell to work. 

"More fun to make and more fun to 
get, and just think!" said Betty, "there 
will be enough for all the six children, 
too, from the red apple bank!" 




WEAVING AN INDIAN BASKET 

Have you ever examined a beautiful Indian basket, so firm 
and strong and smooth, and wished you, too, could make one? 
You can hardly hope to do as well as the Indian weaver, and 
you cannot use the material which she gathers so carefully, 
but with a little practise and a good deal of patience, you can 
soon learn to make a strong and beautiful basket, much like the 
Indian baskets, and quite as useful. 

Instead of the fibers which the Indian weaver uses, you will 
secure some raffia from a florist, or from a department store. 

You can get enough for a small basket for ten cents. It is 
much cheaper by the pound, and a pound will last a long time. 
If you find it is dusty and dirty when you get it, wash it in 
luke-warm water and hang it up to dry. When dry it is ready 
to use. 

The only other things you will need are a pair of scissors, 
and a large darning-needle. Some people like a needle with a 
blunt point, but I prefer the sharp-pointed ones, with large eyes. 

If you look closely at a single strand of raffia, you will 
almost always find at one end a little stiff brown bit. This in- 
dicates that it is the stem end, and this end should always be 
placed in the eye of the needle. The stiffest part, an inch or so, 
may first be cut off. Select a broad, even piece of raffia, and 
thread your needle with it. 

Next, select from seven to fifteen strands of raffia, so that 
you have a bunch, or coil, as we call it, about as big around as 
a small lead-pencil. Arrange the ends not quite even, and hold 
this coil firmly, close to the end, in your left hand. Place the 
end of the threaded raffia which is farthest from the needle in 
your coil under the thumb of your left hand, and begin to 
wrap the coil closely with this thread, letting your needle hang 
loose all the time. Wrap firmly and closely, allowing each 

97 



98 THINGS TO MAKE 



wrap to just touch the last one. When you have wrapped about 
three-quarters of an inch, double the wrapped part back on the 
coil, turning it around toward you; go on wrapping, catching 
in the end of the wrapped part with your thread as shown in 
the illustration. When you have wrapped about a half inch, 
all the time trying to shape the little center into a perfect 
round, take up your needle and set a stitch from the back 
through the center, toward you, drawing it as tightly as you 
can. Wrap again, this time only three times, then another 
stitch and so on. When you start the third round, you do 
not set your stitch into the center, but under the second row, 
and after this the stitch always goes under the last row. Con- 
tinue in this way till your base is the desired size. Six inches 
is a good size for the first basket. 

Now to begin the sides. This is not nearly so difficult as 
you may think. Up to this time, you have been careful to 
keep your base flat by holding your coil loosely so that it would 
lie smoothly outside the last coil. Now you will hold the coil 
much more tightly, and instead of placing it outside the last 
coil, you place it on top of the last coil, and try hard to build 
the sides up straight. The tendency is always for the sides 
to slant in. 

You should take pains, when you turn the basket up, to 
hold the outside of the bottom toward you, so that the sides 
are being built up away from you. This makes it easier to 
handle and control. 

When you have made the basket as high as you wish, you 
will bind it off. To do this cut off the coil, not squarely, but 
in a slanting direction, until it is pointed, like a tail. Then 
take one stitch after another, closely binding the tail to the 
coil below it, and finally run your needle back into the coil 
for an inch, draw out the thread, and cut it off close. 

When you have made one or two plain baskets, you will 



WEAVING AN INDIAN BASKET 99 

wish to begin designing them. You will find many helps in 
any book on basketry. The colored raffia may be had wherever 
you buy the natural, and when you wish to put in the color, 
you simply use a colored thread on your needle instead of a 
natural one. Simple lines are the easiest to start with; then 
you may try triangles, squares, etc. It is often easier not to 
change needles each time you wish a different color, but have 
a needle for each color, and carry the colored thread you are 
not using along in your coil till it is needed; then drop the 
natural into the coil, and take up the colored one. 

This stitch is sometimes called the lazy squaw stitch, for 
it is said that only lazy squaws wrapped the coil between 
stitches. Others call it the bridge stitch because the stitches 
bridge the coils. The rice stitch is slightly different and very 
pretty. Make one wrap between each two stitches, and then, 
in making the succeeding row, pass the needle over this wrap. 

A very dainty variation of the lazy squaw stitch is called 
the knot stitch, and is pretty for jewel and other fancy baskets. 
Start the coil as in the first basket, wrapping firmly but taking 
the stitch rather loosely. It is well to use a large piece of raffia 
in the needle. Take the stitch exactly as in the lazy squaw 
stitch, but before beginning the next wrap bring your thread 
up between the coils close to the left of the stitch, cross the 
stitch with the thread and pass your needle down on the right 
of the stitch, to the back of the work, and again bring it up to 
the front between the coils, thus crossing the stitch on the 
back. This gives the appearance of a knot at each stitch. The 
stitches, if taken with large enough raffia, will slightly separate 
the coils, so that it is sometimes called the lace stitch, from 
the open appearance of the work. It is very pretty to use as a" 
band for decoration in the center of a basket. Or you may 
make a pretty jewel or collar basket by using the lazy squaw 



100 



THINGS TO MAKE 



for the base and the lace for the sides, and lining it with some 
bright silk. 

Another very strong stitch, which closely imitates the 
baskets made by the Navajo Indians is called the figure eight 
stitch. It makes an exceedingly firm and durable basket, but 
it requires more time and patience. I am sure, however, you 
will like a basket made in this stitch so much that I am going 
to tell you how to make it. 

The coil is started just as in the first simple basket. In 
beginning the weaving stitches, the thread is first passtd to 
the back of the coil, carrying it under the coil ; it is then brought 
up over the coil to the front and again carried under the coil 
to the back, the stitch being set from the back of the work 
through to the front. This is repeated again and again, there 
being no winding or wrapping between stitches. If you use a 
rather small coil, and wrap firmly, you can make a basket so 
firm and tight 
that 



it will not 
bend. Such a 
basket is very 
beautiful and 
will last for 



years. 




BOBBY'S AND BETTY'S SANTA CLAUS 

Bobby was just home from the hospital where he had spent 
two weeks having a sick throat made well. It was very nice 
to be home once more, and very comforting to sit in front of 
the dear fireplace, for Christmas was quite near, and Bobby 
was sure Santa Claus would find his way down their chimney. 
Someway he did not feel so sure that Santa Claus would come 
to the hospital, for he saw no chimney, and he felt rather 
uneasy about the boys and girls he had left behind him in the 
little white beds when he came away. Just suppose they had 
no Christmas at all! 

"Mother, can't I send them something, so that if Santa 
Claus doesn't come, they will still have a little Christmas?" 
he coaxed. 

"Oh, Bobby," cried Betty, "let me help, and we will make 
the Santa Miss Crawford showed us how to make in school 
to-day," and Betty ran to get the cunning paper Santa Claus 
she had brought home from the kindergarten. 

"Couldn't we put a real pack on his back?" asked Bobby. 

"I am sure we can," said mother, as she brought the paper 
for the children. 

First Bobby cut a piece of red paper just like the Pattern 
A, for Santa's body. Then Betty, with a bit of white chalk, 
marked the fur on the coat, just touching it with black ink to 
look like ermine, and put on a black belt. Then she pasted the 
tiny bit of pinkish paper, cut like B, for the face, marking the 
eyes with ink. 

Then Bobby made two arms like Pattern C, and Betty 
painted the mittens black. While Bobby cut two legs like Pat- 
tern D from red paper, Betty made the boots black, and with 
the chalk marked white fur at the top. 

Next holding the arms and legs in position, they pushed 

101 



102 THINGS TO MAKE 



brass paper fasteners, such as father used in the office, through 
x, x, and y, y, and found they could make Santa, walk, run or 
sit as they chose. 

Mother then brought them a box of small candies. 

"These are very pure, and will not hurt even a sick child," 
she said. 

Bobby and Betty put six candies in the middle of a small 
square of tissue paper, twisted the corners of the paper to- 
gether, and pasted a strip of black paper to the pack and put 
it over Santa's shoulders to look like a strap. 

They made a Santa for each child in the hospital, packed 
them carefully in a box and sent them to the superintendent, 
asking that a Santa Claus should be put on each child's bed, 
where he would see it, when he first wakened on Christmas 
morning. 

But you must not ask me to tell you how much the hos- 
pital children loved the Santas, nor what they said to Bobby 
and Betty when they next went to visit the hospital. I haven't 
room for that, and if you really wish to know, you may make 
some for your own city hospital and then you will find out 
for yourself. 



BOBBY^S AND BETTY'S SANTA CLAUS 



103 



Bobby's 

and 
Bettys 
Santa 
Clans 




CHKISTMAS PLANS 

First, collect the most interesting picture postals you can 
find. Those that have been mailed will do nicely, if there is 
no writing on the picture side. Then find some pieces of thin 
wood, like the cover of a grape basket, or the smooth bottom 
of a cigar box. You can buy for twenty-five cents, a coping 
saw with a dozen blades, or if you already have a scroll or jig 
saw you can use that nicely. You will also need some good 
glue, a small half-round wood file, both medium and fine sand- 
paper, white or colored tape or narrow ribbon, and some heavy 
paper or cardboard. A sharp knife, too, will be convenient. 

To begin your work, cut a thin board exactly the size of 
one of your cards and make the edges of the wood smooth and 
true with knife, file, and sandpaper. Glue the card to the 
board, being sure that every part adheres closely, and dry 
without heat under a heavy weight. Then with a pencil, lightly 
mark the surface of the card into sections, such as you find in 
the familar picture puzzle, and with the saw carefully cut on 
these lines. If you have chosen a pretty card, you will find 
that you now have an attractive puzzle, which placed in a gay 
box with Christmas seals, will make a very acceptable gift. 
You will find the making of these puzzles such fun that you 
probably will wish to make several. 

Another gift requires four or five cards and two pieces of 
tape or ribbon long enough to reach across the cards and tie 
at the top for a hanger. Glue the tapes three-quarters of an 
inch from the ends of each card on the back, keeping the cards 

104 



CHRISTMAS PLANS 



105 



one -half inch apart, and then 
glue another card to the back 
of each card, placing the ad- 
dress sides together; dry under 
a weight; tie the tapes at the 
top, fold the cards one on top 
of another, and enclose in a 
pretty envelope which you can 
make from holly paper. 

You will find much fun in 
making jointed men and ani- 
mals from the thin wood with 
your saw. Suppose you try an 
Eskimo. Enlarge the drawings 
a, b, c, to any size you wish, and 
trace carefully on the wood, 
making sure that you lay the 
drawing with the grain of the 
wood, as far as possible, so that 
the pieces will not break when 

used. When all the pieces are cut, smooth the edges with file 
and sandpaper; color them, if you wish, with water-color or 
crayon, and give each piece a thin coat of shellac. With a fine 
awl pierce a small hole at each circle, and join the pieces by 
inserting a small wire, the ends of which should be bent with 
pliers to form a loop to prevent its coming out. A Teddy bear, 
and in fact, all sorts of animals and people can be made in the 
same way. If you cannot draw the forms, you will find it very 
easy to trace them from the pictures in the alphabet books of 
your small brothers and sisters. The toys may be easily made 
from heavy paper or cardboard, if you prefer it to the wood. 
The paper toys should not be shellaced, and should be held 
together with brass paper fasteners. They are particularly 
nice for children's hospitals, as they are so light that they are 
easy to hold. 




106 



THINGS TO MAKE 








Jointed Eskimo Man 




MORE CHRISTMAS PLANS 

As a first step in Christmas plans it is always wise to write^ 
to the secretary of your own mission board (your minister will 
give you the address), asking for the name of a school, the 
number of pupils, their ages, and their special needs. Then 
you will know just what to send. But, while you are waiting 
for an answer, you may begin to make some things that are 
sure to be needed in every school at Christmas time. 

First of all, the candy bags. For who can imagine a Christ- 
mas without candy? You may make the bags from tarlatan, 
a thin white material, though it is better to use cape-net, which 
is a strong, coarse, white net that costs but a few cents a yard. 
The bags should be nearly square when finished, and be sure 
each one is large enough to hold a half-pound of candy. Fold 
the edges over twice, and overcast with holly red or holly green 
worsted; fasten a little bell to each lower corner, and run a 
double-worsted thread around the hem at the top, to draw up 
the bag and form a little frill as a finish. 

A pretty variation of this square bag is made of the same 
material, but cut in the form of a stocking for the girls and a 
mitten for the boys. 

Of course, these net bags are of little use after the candy 
has been removed. If you care to make better bags, use silka- 
line or art ticking, and for the runner get tape or ribbon. The 
candy should be put in a paper bag before it is enclosed in these 
cloth bags, which afterward will serve as work bags or button 
bags, while boys may use them for marbles. 

It is not best to fill the bags with the candy yourself. Rather, 
send the money, ten cents for each bag. Your father, your 
minister, or your teacher will tell you the best way to send it. 

There are many things that will be very fine presents for 
our home mission boys and girls which you cannot make. 

107 



108 THINGS TO MAKE 



Among these are balls, marbles, knives, neckties, and sus- 
penders for boys ; aprons, stockings, belts and ribbons for girls ; 
and handkerchiefs and gloves for both boys and girls. Per- 
haps you can buy some of these, and wrap them to look as fine 
and gay as possible, and tie a card to each one, ready for the 
name of the recipient to be put on it by the teacher. If you 
also fasten to the package a slip of paper on which you describe 
the contents, you will help greatly. "Gloves for a boy, size 
six," will save the opening of the package you have so care- 
fully tied. 

Of course, every girl knows that a doll is the best gift for 
another girl, and so you will dress as many of these as you can. 
Let the clothes be plain, but very, very neat, and made to 
"come off and on" with buttons and buttonholes if possible. 

A doll that will be very pleasing to a tiny child is made 
from an old stocking; use a black stocking if you wish a "mam- 
my" doll, or a white or pink one if you wish a white doll. Cut 
the stocking in the shape of figure A. If your stocking is a 
small one, the part of the pattern between x, x, may be laid on 
the folds of the stocking and save a little sewing. After 
cutting, sew very strongly around the whole outline, except 
between m, m; turn the form inside out, to hide the seam, stuff 
with cotton, and then sew up the opening, m, m. Make the 
arms from two pieces of stocking, stuff and sew in place. With 
a few stitches, mark the eyes, nose, and mouth, and from a round 
piece of muslin or gingham, make a cap and fasten on the head. 
Cut the dress from some gay material, like Pattern B ; make it 
very full, gathering the neck, sleeves, and legs with a strong 
thread and sewing it in place on the doll. You will now have 
a funny, cunning dolly that will delight a baby and that can 
be squeezed and dropped without any danger of harm. 

The younger boys and girls will wish some part in this 
work, and they will find it very pleasant work to fill some 



MORE CHRISTMAS PLANS 



109 




Cat/ier at x 



FIGURJE, B 



FIGURE A, 





T\G>. \ 



o o o 
o o o 



nc.a 




o 


o 


o o 




o 





FLC 3 




FIC. 4 



strong envelopes with mixed beads. Buy the beads by the box, 
and put quite a quantity in each envelope, with a needle and 
a strong thread, on which you have strung a few beads, just 
enough to show the pattern. Seal the envelope tightly, and 
mark it "Beads with needle and thread for stringing." 

Boys always like to get puzzles and it is almost as much 
fun to make them as it is to solve them. The picture puzzles 
are easily cut; for directions, see page 104. Another puzzle, 
sometimes called the "Magic Square," can be made by almost 
any boy, with few tools. Find or make a square box about % 
of an inch deep. From a half -inch board just large enough to 
fit into the box, cut 16 squares; throw one of these away and 



110 THINGS TO MAKE 



smooth the others with knife and sandpaper, beveling the 
upper edges of each. 

Print a number on each square, beginning with 1 and end- 
ing with 15. The cutting and smoothing of the squares will 
make them just the size to fit easily in the box, and the puzzle 
consists of putting them in in any order and then in seeing how 
quickly one can arrange them in proper order, using the vacant 
space to move in. A puzzle much like this, but requiring more 
time to make as well as to solve, would have 35 squares of 
wood, with the twenty-six letters of the alphabet and the nine 
numerals marked on them. 

A "patience" game is made with a shallow box, a cardboard, 
glass, and shot or seeds. A box with a sliding cover is needed 
for this, such as jewelers and opticians use for mailing pur- 
poses. Sandpaper and stain the box nicely first, and if you 
wish, a pyrography needle may be used in decorating it. Next 
cut a thick cardboard to exactly fit the bottom of the box. 
Before placing this in position, cut holes in it in such places 
as you may decide. Fig. 1 shows one arrangement ; Fig. 2, two 
others. The size of the hole depends upon the fillers you in- 
tend to use ; if you are going to select small marbles, the holes 
should be just large enough to catch and hold them ; if you use 
bullets or shot, the holes will need to be smaller; if you select 
small round seeds, you will need still smaller holes. The holes 
may be cut with a very sharp knife, a gouge, or a carving tool, 
or you may have a paper punch which will be just the thing for 
this. Only be sure that they are cut with clean sharp sides. 
If you use marbles, the cardboard needs to be much thicker 
than if your balls are small. You may even need to use two 
thick pieces. After the holes are all cut, glue the cardboard 
to the bottom of the box, and place in it as many fillers (mar- 
bles, bullets, shot, or seeds) as you have holes. The game con- 



MORE CHRISTMAS PLANS 111 

sists of rolling the balls into their places by gently tipping 
the box till all the holes are filled. 

If you can do no better, the wooden cover may be used, and 
removed when you wish to play the game, but a glass cover 
that will not come off is much better. If you own a plate 
camera, you probably have many useless negatives. The gela- 
tin may be removed from these glasses by soaking for some time 
in warm water ; this softens it so that it will easily peel off. If 
the glass is not the right size for the box, a glazier will cut it the 
size you wish for a few cents. Then slide your glass into the 
groove in the box that was meant for the cover, and bind the 
upper edge of the box with a piece of passe-partout binding. 
This will hold the glass in place and give a good finish to a 
game that any boy may be pleased to make or own. 

By exercising a little ingenuity you may devise several 
variations of this game. For example, find or draw a picture 
of a man carrying toy balloons, and cut out the balloons for the 
holes. Or paste on the bottom of your box the picture of a 
daisy, or a brown-eyed Susan, or an ear of corn, or a butterfly ; 
then cut out the holes in the center of the flowers, or the seeds 
from the pea or corn, the spots from the butterfly, and use shot 
or seeds of the proper size for fillers. (See Figs. 3, 4.) If 
you wish to use different sizes of fillers in the same game, you 
may do so; this makes the game a little more difficult, as you 
will find the larger fillers are likely to push the smaller ones 
out after you have the latter in place. 



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